However, little information is available investigating the effect of potentially beneficial nutrients on the obese microbiota. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the effect of peach and plum juices on the intestinal microbiota of obese rats using molecular tools, including a highthroughput sequencing technique. Obese individuals have been reported to harbor a distinctive intestinal microbiota when compared to non-obese subjects. For example, Ley et al. showed a lower proportion of Bacteroidetes and a higher proportion of Firmicutes in obese mice when compared with lean mice. Likewise, it has been suggested that obesity is related to phylum-level changes in the microbiota and reduced bacterial diversity. However, others have found either no difference in the proportions of the main phyla or a change in proportions that seemed to contradict the original observations by Ley et al.. In this study, qPCR analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the SDZ 220-040 abundance of several fecal bacterial groups between the treatment groups compared to the control and lean groups, but there was no difference between the lean and the obese control groups. The reasons for this lack of difference between lean and obese subjects are unknown but other authors have proposed a role of interindividual differences, methods of sample preparation or methods of bacterial analysis. The study of intestinal microorganisms and their relationship with fat metabolism and obesity has received increased attention over the last few years. However, little is known about how to successfully manipulate the obese gut microbiota, previous studies mainly used non-digestible carbohydrates. Using an obese animal model, this study suggest that the polyphenolics in the juices played a role in the observed changes because the plum juice contained 3 times more polyphenolics and the differences in fecal microbial ecology and body weight were more marked in the plum group. For example, we found a higher abundance of Ile-Pro-Ile Turicibacter in the plum group and this bacterial group has received increased attention because of its close relationship with the immune system of the host. Also, we found a higher abundance of Bacteroidetes in the plum group. As mentioned above, Ley et al. and others have shown that lean individuals generally carry a higher abundance of this group.