Abstract:

The chili pepper has a wide range of consumers; however, the consumption of chili will cause a discomfort
reaction of intestinal environment with a potential hazard. As an intestinal prebiotic factor, pectin is beneficial to the
improvement of the intestinal environment. In this study, Ficus pumila Linn pectin was used as the raw material to explore
the improvement of pectin on capsaicin-induced intestinal discomfort reaction. Supernatants from cecal contents of
healthy rats were fermented on a thermostat shaker at 37 ℃ along with blank, 5% pectin, 5% pectin ＋ 0.1% capsaicin and
0.1% capsaicin, respectively. Based on these experiments, we found that capsaicin significantly decreased the amount of
Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, increased Enterobacter, also reduced the concentration of intestinal short-chain fatty
acids, and increased free ammonia concentration and pH. The pectin resulted in a significant increase in the amount of
Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and an obvious decrease in Enterobacter; moreover the concentration of intestinal shortchain
fatty acids was increased and free ammonia concentration and pH were decreased. These results show that Ficus
pumila Linn pectin could ameliorate capsaicin-induced deterioration of the intestinal environment.

Key words: capsaicin, pectin, short-chain fatty acids, microbe