Carbohydrate polymersSep 25, 2021

Effects of konjac fiber with different sizes on gut bacteria after antibiotic disturbance in lab fermentation

Updated Feb 25, 2026

Abstract

Low-MW konjac glucomannan (KGM2) significantly altered fecal microflora during antibiotic treatment.

KGM2 increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria (Bifidobacteriaceae) in the presence of antibiotics.
KGM2 decreased the proportion of harmful bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae) when antibiotics were administered.
Both native KGM and acid-treated KGM mitigated the negative effects of antibiotics on short chain fatty acid production.
The study indicates that KGM may influence gut microbiota composition in the context of antibiotic disturbance.

Simplified

This study investigated the effect of konjac glucomannan (KGM) of different molecular weight on fecal microflora against antibiotic disturbance. KGM (~1.8 × 10 Da) was partially hydrolysed with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) for 10 and 60 min to KGM1 (~2.1 × 10 Da) and KGM2 (7413 Da), respectively. The acid treatment caused significant reduction of intrinsic viscosity, average molecular weight (MW) and particle size of KGM, but brought limited change to the molecular structure. Low-MW KGM2 showed the most significant effect on fecal microflora in the presence of two common antibiotics (ampicillin and clindamycin), by increasing the relative abundance of Bifidobacteriaceae while decreasing the proportion of Enterobacteriaceae. Additionally, both the native and acid-treated KGM counteracted the adverse influence of antibiotics on the production of short chain fatty acids. The results have demonstrated the effect of KGM on gut microbiota with antibiotic disturbance. 7 4

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