Cranberry is associated with multiple health benefits, which are mostly attributed to its high content of (poly)phenols, particularly flavan-3-ols. However, clinical trials attempting to demonstrate these positive effects have yielded heterogeneous results, partly due to the high inter-individual variability associated with gut microbiota interaction with these molecules. In fact, several studies have demonstrated the ability of these molecules to modulate the gut microbiota in animal and in vitro models, but there is a scarcity of information in human subjects. In addition, it has been recently reported that cranberry also contains high concentrations of oligosaccharides, which could contribute to its bioactivity. Hence, the aim of this study was to fully characterize the (poly)phenolic and oligosaccharidic contents of a commercially available cranberry extract and evaluate its capacity to positively modulate the gut microbiota of 28 human subjects. After only four days, the (poly)phenols and oligosaccharides-rich cranberry extract, induced a strong bifidogenic effect, along with an increase in the abundance of several butyrate-producing bacteria, such as Clostridium and Anaerobutyricum. Plasmatic and fecal short-chain fatty acids profiles were also altered by the cranberry extract with a decrease in acetate ratio and an increase in butyrate ratio. Finally, to characterize the inter-individual variability, we stratified the participants according to the alterations observed in the fecal microbiota following supplementation. Interestingly, individuals having a microbiota characterized by the presence of Prevotella benefited from an increase in Faecalibacterium with the cranberry extract supplementation.

蔓越莓具有多种健康益处，这主要归因于其高含量的（多）酚，特别是黄烷-3-醇。然而，试图证明这些积极作用的临床试验却产生了异质性结果，部分原因是肠道微生物群与这些分子相互作用相关的个体间高度变异性。事实上，一些研究已经证明了这些分子在动物和体外模型中调节肠道微生物群的能力，但在人类受试者中缺乏信息。此外，最近有报道称蔓越莓还含有高浓度的寡糖，这可能有助于其生物活性。因此，本研究的目的是全面表征市售蔓越莓提取物的（多）酚和寡糖含量，并评估其积极调节 28 名人类受试者肠道微生物群的能力。仅四天后，富含（多）酚和寡糖的蔓越莓提取物就诱导了强烈的双歧杆菌效应，同时增加了几种产生丁酸的细菌（例如梭状芽胞杆菌和厌氧丁酸杆菌）的丰度。蔓越莓提取物也改变了血浆和粪便的短链脂肪酸谱，乙酸盐比例降低，丁酸盐比例增加。最后，为了表征个体间的变异性，我们根据补充后粪便微生物群中观察到的变化对参与者进行分层。有趣的是，具有以存在普氏菌为特征的微生物群的个体受益于补充蔓越莓提取物后粪杆菌的增加。