Blended tea ameliorates T2DM via modulation of gut microflora

Abstract

Increasing evidences suggest that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is closely related to gut microflora dysbiosis, which can be improved by dietary intervention. Four natural plant products, including Cyclocarya paliurus, Fu brick tea, Ampelopsis grossedentata, and Lithocarpus litseifolius, which are all rich in bioactive ingredients, are preliminarily found to be individually effective in alleviating T2DM. However, each of these four products has its own limitations in taste or aroma. In this study, these four natural plant products were blended to form a blended teaproduct for obtaining the better flavor. The blended tea was also expected to have excellent pharmacological activity. Therefore, the ameliorative effect of blended tea on T2DM and underlying mechanisms were studied in this study. The results showed that the blended tea extract effectively attenuated the symptoms of glucose and lipid metabolism-related disorders in T2DM mice fed by high-fat and high-sucrose diet (HFHSD). Furthermore, blended tea extract intervention significantly attenuated gut microbiota dysbiosis, characterized by increased community diversity and community richness. Certain core microbes, including Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Butyricimonas, Roseburia, Oscillibacter, [Eubacterium]_nodatum_group, Muribaculaceae, Prevotellaceae UCG 001, were also found to be improved by blended tea extract. Collectively, our results demonstrated that the blended tea may ameliorateT2DM through modulation of gut microflora. The blended tea may serve as novel functional drink for the treatment of T2DM and dysbiosis of gut microbiota.