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Polyphenol compounds found in fruits, vegetables, spices, red wine, and chocolate have been linked to several health benefits, including decreased risk of cardiometabolic disease. Identifying the mechanisms behind these benefits has proven challenging because dietary polyphenols are not readily absorbed by the human gut into the bloodstream. This raises the question – how do polyphenols benefit our health? Our laboratory seeks to understand how dietary polyphenols promote health by conducting preclinical studies using mouse models of type-2 diabetes (T2D) as well as human intervention studies. Our research with grape polyphenols suggests that they alter the gut microbiota and microbial metabolites that directly communicate with host intestinal cells, which then relay signals to other organs regulating metabolism.
In this project we will be investigating how grape polyphenols alter the gut microbiome and microbial metabolites to protect mice from symptoms of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced T2D. We will also investigate how grape polyphenols alter the expression of genes in tissues/organs that regulate host metabolism.
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