Daily Supplementation with Fresh Angelica keiskei Juice Alleviates High‐Fat Diet‐Induced Obesity in Mice by Modulating Gut Microbiota Composition

Abstract

Scope: Angelica keiskei is associated with several health benefits, but little is known about the effect of A. keiskei juice (AKJ), which is rich in polyphenols, coumarins, and other healthful agents, on high-fat diet-induced obesity or its relationship with intestinal microbiota composition changes. Methods and results: C57BL/6 mice are fed either a normal diet (ND group; n = 8), a high-fat diet (HFD group; n = 8), or a high-fat diet supplemented with AKJ (AKJ group; n = 8) for 10 weeks. The results show that AKJ prevents weight gain, lowered fat accumulation, blood glucose, serum lipid levels, hepatic steatosis, and modulates the level of expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in mice with obesity. AKJ is found to normalize HFD-induced gut dysbiosis. Particularly, AKJ ameliorates HFD-dependent changes in the relative abundance of several taxa back to normal status (e.g., AKJ increased Bacteroides and decreased Mollicutes RF9, Ruminococcaceae UCG-014, Faecalibacterium, and Lactobacillus). Spearman's correlation analysis reveals that those genera are closely correlated with body weight, fasting serum glucose, and serum lipid levels. Conclusion: The results show that consumption of phytochemical-rich AKJ may prevent HFD-induced obesity and metabolic disorders via changes in metabolic genes and gut microbiota composition.

Seabuckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides) Freeze-Dried Powder Protects against High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity, Lipid Metabolism Disorders by Modulating the Gut Microbiota of Mice

“…We found that even if they eat the same high calorie fat-rich foods, seabuckthorn intake could not only reduce food intake to prevent the development of obesity, but also reduce the utilization efficiency of food and energy. Similar results were obtained in the dietary intervention of Phaseolus vulgaris extract, fresh angelica keiskei juice, and mulberry ethanol extract on obesity induced by a high-fat diet [12,21,22].…”

“…Obesity is defined as the accumulation of excess adipose tissue, accompanying the increase of body weight and fat deposition in the liver, causing corresponding metabolism dysfunction. Accumulating evidence showed that the daily consumption of foods rich in bioactive compounds, such as fruits and vegetables, could confer a beneficial effect on anti-obesity and obesity-association metabolism diseases [21]. In our study, the results showed that daily supplementation with seabuckthorn freeze-dried powder at 4.0 mg/(g.d. body weight) could significantly decrease body weight, Lee's index, adipose tissue weight, liver weight, and other obesity-related indexes.…”

“…ACOX is the rate-limiting enzyme of peroxidase fatty acid β-oxidation, and CPT1 is the rate-limiting enzyme of β-oxidation of fatty acids, which is determined as the speed of fatty acid oxidation [30]. In terms of research about preventing or improving obesity and obesity-related diseases, it was noted that supplementation with polyphenols, polysaccharides, or flavonoid-rich plants could ameliorate obesity symptoms by activating fatty acid β-oxidation or increasing lipid metabolism [21]. For example, quercetin, resveratrol, kaempferol glycosides, and polysaccharide reduced the body weight gain as well as the accumulation of adipose tissue by down-regulating PPARγ and SREBP-1c expression and up-regulating PPARα expression.…”

“…Anti-obesity effects of seabuckthorn freeze-dried powder could result from polyphenols, total sugar, total acid, or dietary fiber [33]. Recent animal studies reported that some plants cramming with bioactive ingredients, such as bamboo-shaving, angelica keiskei, and citrus peel, reduced body weight gain, Lee's index, and ameliorated lipid metabolic disorders by altering the composition and structure of gut microbiota [6,21,34]. On this basis, we further investigated whether the beneficial effect of seabuckthorn freeze-dried powder on the improvement of obesity was associated with the changes of gut microbiota.…”

“…After seabuckthorn freeze-dried powder supplementation, the level of Desulfovibrionaceae exhibited a significant decrease. Talking specifically about the genus, Akkermansia, Bacteroides, and Ruminococcaceae_UGC_014, which were reported that the relative abundance of those was negatively correlated with obesity-related indices, indicating that they may play an important role in the prevention of obesity [21], among which Akkermansia, the only cultivated intestinal representative of the Verrucomicrobia phylum, was negatively associated with the metabolic disorders in many clinical and preclinical studies [35,37,38]. Some studies reported that dietary or drug-enriched Akkermansia could protect mice from high-fat diet-induced obesity.…”