Figure 5. An interaction between diet, bile acid metabolism, and gut motility revealed by colonizing germ-free mice with a BSH_hi or BSH_lo consortium and feeding them a representative Bangladeshi diet with or without turmeric.

(A) Turmeric consumption resulted in significantly slower motility in mice colonized with the BSH_lo but not the BSH_hi consortium. (B) While consuming the turmeric-supplemented Bangladeshi diet, BSH_hi mice had transit times comparable to mice colonized with the complete 53 strain culture collection (“CC”) and faster motility (i.e., shorter transit times) than BSH_lo mice (n=5 animals/microbiota). (C) Turmeric consumption is associated with a significant increase in total fecal unconjugated bile acid concentrations in gnotobiotic wild-type mice colonized with the BSH_hi consortium but not the BSH_lo consortium. (D) Transit times (mean ± s.e.m.) measured for two groups of gnotobiotic mice colonized with BSH_lo consortium and fed the unsupplemented or turmeric-containing Bangladeshi diet. Measurements occurred at the end of the single (monotonous) 10-day diet experiment. Statistical significance was determined using a one-tailed Student’s t-test. *, p<0.05. See also Tables S4, S6, S7, S8.