Due to the preventive effect that plant sterols could have in relation to colon cancer and the scarce information available on plant sterols-gut microbiota interaction, we evaluate the sterols influence upon gut microbiota and viceversa. In vitro colonic fermentation using a residue from the in vitro digestion of a plant sterol-enriched beverage were used. Faecal sterols by GC–MS, and gut microbiota using DNA sequencing were determined. A higher plant sterols metabolism and lower for cholesterol in presence of plant sterols was occurred. Neutral plant sterols decreased and its metabolites increased during fermentation times. The global changes in microbial communities were associated to fermentation time regardless the sterol supplementation. Notwithstanding, plant sterols decreased the proportion of Erysipelotrichaceae species and increased the abundance of phylotypes associated with Eubacterium hallii. The study confirms a higher plant sterols metabolism against cholesterol by gut microbiota. Plant sterols could help to increase the beneficial species abundance.

由于植物固醇可能对结肠癌具有预防作用，并且缺乏有关植物固醇与肠道菌群相互作用的可用信息，因此我们评估了固醇对肠道菌群的影响，反之亦然。体外结肠发酵使用从一个残基在体外使用消化富含植物固醇的饮料。通过GC-MS检测粪便中的固醇，并使用DNA测序确定肠道菌群。在存在植物固醇的情况下，发生了较高的植物固醇代谢和较低的胆固醇。在发酵过程中，中性植物固醇减少，其代谢产物增加。无论是否添加固醇，微生物群落的整体变化都与发酵时间有关。尽管如此，植物固醇减少了海胆科植物物种的比例，并增加了与哈里氏真细菌相关的系统型丰富度。该研究证实肠道菌群可提高植物甾醇对胆固醇的新陈代谢。植物固醇可以帮助增加有益物种的丰度。