Figure 5.

Analysis of the gut microbiota. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. (A,B) Comparing the observed Chao1 and Shannon indices as measures of the alpha diversity from baseline to week 12 in the −KES and +KES groups. The Wilcoxon test was utilized to calculate statistical significance. (C) The differential beta diversity of the gut microbiota was examined in Generalized UniFrac. Multivariate analysis using permutational multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant difference between −KES/before and +KES/after at p = 0.001 but not between the other groups. −KES, group not administered 1-kestose; +KES, group administered 1-kestose.