Physical and Dietary Intervention with Opuntia ficus-indica (Nopal) in Women with Obesity Improves Health Condition through Gut Microbiota Adjustment

Abstract

Obesity is a multifactorial disease resulting in excessive accumulation of fat. Worldwide, obesity is an important public health problem, affecting a large proportion of the world population. The tender cactus Opuntia ficus-indica, commonly known in Mexico as “nopal”, is widely distributed in this country, Latin America, South Africa, and the Mediterranean area. Nopal cladodes are commonly marketed in different forms as fresh, frozen, or pre-cooked, and used as fresh green vegetable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capability of nopal to improve the health condition of participants affected by obesity, in a physical and dietary intervention, through gut microbiota modification. These results were contrasted with the effect of nopal in the gut microbiota of normal weight participants. We describe the association among biochemical, anthropometric markers, and the gut microbiota diversity found in fecal samples of the obese and normal weight groups. The results presented in this work suggest that caloric restriction, addition of nopal to the diet and physical activity, promote changes in the gut microbiota in obese women, improving the host metabolism, as suggested by the correlation between some bacterial species with biochemical and anthropometrical parameters.

Dietary supplementation with Mexican foods, Opuntia ficus indica, Theobroma cacao, and Acheta domesticus: Improving obesogenic and microbiota features in obese mice

“…Particularly, Sánchez-Tapia et al fed rats with a highfat diet (45%) along with 5% of dietary fiber from nopal and found an increase in the alpha diversity and enrichment of bacteria involved in SCFA production (27). Moreover, 1-month supplementation with boiled nopal 300 g/day in patients with obesity showed an increasing tendency in Prevotella enrichment, while Roseburia and Eubacterium enrichment were detected in patients with normal weight (56). Also, cricket powder supplementation (25 grams/day) for 14 days in healthy adults did not modify the alpha and beta diversities, but supported the growth of the probiotic bacterium Bifidobacterium animalis (15).…”

Mexican Ancestral Foods (Theobroma cacao, Opuntia ficus indica, Persea americana and Phaseolus vulgaris) Supplementation on Anthropometric, Lipid and Glycemic Control Variables in Obese Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Three studies evaluated the effect of avocado ingestion on abdominal adiposity and visceral adiposity in subjects with syndrome metabolic disease and obesity [ 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Finally, two studies measured the effects of nopal or Opuntia Ficus Indica intake on anthropometric and metabolic characteristics in obese type 2 diabetes patients [ 42 , 43 ].…”

“…Patient anthropometric outcomes and serum lipid parameters enlisted in included studies are shown in detail in Table 2 . Two out of the fifteen studies were double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials with parallel groups [ 29 , 30 ]; two studies were randomized crossover trials [ 37 , 43 ]; two studies had a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind design [ 35 , 38 ]; one study had a multicenter, randomized, controlled parallel-arm trial design [ 40 ]; one study was a single-center, randomized, 2-arm, controlled, parallel trial [ 41 ]; three studies were randomized controlled trials [ 31 , 34 , 39 ]; one study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over [ 36 ]; one study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical pilot trial [ 32 ]; one study was a prospective dietary intervention [ 42 ]; and finally, one study was a two-phase, randomized, double-blind, clinical trial [ 33 ]. Most of them included adults of both genders, while one study included exclusively women.…”

“…The duration of the studies was variable, ranging from 4 weeks to 6 months. Eleven manuscripts were conducted on overweight/obese patients [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 42 , 43 ], two on T2DM and obese patients [ 29 , 41 ], and two on metabolic syndrome- and obesity-diagnosed patients [ 32 , 40 ].…”

“…As shown in Figure 2 , the majority of randomized controlled trials (53.3%) had an unclear risk of bias for A and B criteria, random sequence generation, and allocation concealment due to insufficient information about the sequence generation process to allow the decision of “Low risk” or “High risk” [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 42 , 43 ]. Moreover, 46.6% of studies had a low risk in A and B criteria [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 41 ].…”