Xylo-oligosaccharides ameliorate high cholesterol diet induced hypercholesterolemia and modulate sterol excretion and gut microbiota in hamsters

Abstract The present study investigated the cholesterol-lowering activity of xylo- oligosaccharides and its associated underlying mechanisms in hamsters. Twenty-four hamsters were randomly divided into three groups and fed one of three diets, namely a low cholesterol diet, a high cholesterol diet (HCD), and an HCD diet with supplementation of 5% xylo-oligosaccharides for 6 weeks. The changes in gut microbiota, fecal neutral and acidic sterols were examined. Results exhibited that xylo- oligosaccharides could significantly reduce plasma total cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total triacylglycerol by 11.24%, 24.89% and 38.72%, respectively (p