[Objective]: This study has evaluated the effect of regular and moderate red wine consumption on the diversity and occurrence of different groups of bacteria that are representative in human saliva. [Methods]: Saliva from twenty-two healthy volunteers (age range 20-48 years) was analyzed in this study. Fourteen individuals consumed red wine (250 mL/day) during 4 weeks, whereas 8 volunteers were included in the control group. The evolution and composition of the microbial community in saliva was evaluated by PCR-DGGE and quantitative PCR. [Results]: The microbial inter-individual variability observed in the PCR-DGGE band patterns was higher than the differences observed after the 4-weeks period of red wine intake. Bifidobacterium dentium, Bifidobacterium spp. and Alloscardovia omnicolens were the most representative bifidobacterial species, whereas the Streptococcus mitis-Streptococcus oralis group predominated within Streptococcus. This genus was the most numerous of the bacterial groups assayed, reaching average counts above 8 log copy numbers/mL. On the other hand, the lowest counts were recorded for Actinomyces, Fusobacterium, Haemophilus, Neisseria and Veillonella, which showed average values of 5 log copy numbers/mL. The results showed no significant differences (P > 0.5) in bacterial counts after the period of red wine intake. [Conclusion]: The overall diversity and stability of representative bacterial groups of the human saliva is not disturbed due to regular-moderate red wine consumption.
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