Abstract
There are very few reports on the relationship between obesity and allergic dermatitis, in particular, the effects of barley intake on both obesity and allergic dermatitis are not established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary composition and barley intake on contact hypersensitivity in mice. Mice were fed a high-fat diet with (Beau Fiber; BF) or without (control; CO) barley powder and contact hypersensitivity was induced using 2, 4, 6-trinitrochlorobenzene (TNCB) on the right ear. The feed efficiency ratio, intraperitoneal and epididymal fat weights in the BF group were significantly lower than those in the CO group. In both groups, the right ear became swollen but the BF diet decreased the number of Toluidine Blue-positive cells compared with the control diet. A significant increase in the number of faecal Lactobacillus and decrease in Clostridium coccoides were observed in the BF group compared with the CO group. The number of Bifidobacterium tended to be higher in the BF group (p=0.065). There were no significant differences in the number of Eubacterium and Bacteroides between the two groups. These results suggested that barley intake may control both diet-induced-obesity and allergic dermatitis through modulation of the composition of intestinal microbiota.
