• The incorporation of Lactobacillus plantarum significantly enhanced the quality of highland barley bread. • Highland barley sourdough bread demonstrated superior hypoglycemic efficacy compared to conventional highland barley bread. • Dietary intervention with highland barley sourdough bread effectively alleviated hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in diabetic mice. • Highland barley sourdough bread administration reshaped the gut microbiota profile in diabetic mice. The development of staple foods with low glycemic index (GI) is a promising strategy for diabetes management. This study aimed to enhance the quality of bread formulated with wheat and highland barley flour by incorporating a sourdough fermented with Lactobacillus Plantarum (HBS). The hypoglycemic efficacy of the optimized highland barley sourdough bread (HBSB) was subsequently evaluated in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The results indicated that the addition of HBS increased the specific volume, improved the textural properties, and optimized the microstructure of the bread. Furthermore, the optimized HBSB exhibited lower in vitro hypoglycemic activity and a low estimated glycemic index (eGI = 44.71). Dietary intervention with HBSB alleviated hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in T2DM mice, suppressed the expression of inflammatory factors, mitigated pathological damage in the pancreas and liver, increase the concentration of SCFAs, and reshaped the gut microbiota of diabetic mice by increasing the relative abundances of Bacteroidota and Lactobacillus . These findings demonstrate that HBSB, developed via targeted fermentation, is a promising functional food for dietary management of diabetes, primarily through gut microbiota modulation.
Tong et al. (Sun,) studied this question.