Green tea polyphenols reduce obesity in high‐fat diet‐induced mice by modulating intestinal microbiota composition

Abstract

Summary In this study, the modulatory effect of green tea polyphenols (GTP) on human intestinal microbiota was investigated. Firstly, germ‐free mice were inoculated with faecal suspension derived from healthy volunteers to obtain human flora‐associated (HFA) mice model. When the high‐fat diet‐induced obese mice model was successfully established, they were randomly divided into high‐fat diet group (HFD) and high‐fat diet group with GTP (HFD‐GTP), and the shifts in relative abundance of the dominant taxa at the phylum, family and genus levels were studied by high‐throughput sequencing. The diversity of the total bacterial community reached the maximum after GTP treatment for 3 weeks, and then decreased when the mice were fed without GTP. Despite interindividual variation, the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes increased from 0.56 ± 0.06 (1st week) to 0.60 ± 0.05 (3th week), while Firmicutes decreased from 0.42 ± 0.06 to 0.37 ± 0.02. Interestingly, certain bacterial communities such as Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria still increased and Firmicutes showed a decreasing trend when the mice were fed without GTP (4th week). The results showed that GTP benefits the stability of certain gut microbiota, especially in an environment‐triggered microbial imbalance; therefore, it may have prebiotic‐like activity contributing to the prevention of obesity.

Green Tea Polyphenols Modify the Gut Microbiome in db/db Mice as Co‐Abundance Groups Correlating with the Blood Glucose Lowering Effect

“…The bacteria that can degrade and utilize, or are resistant to, tea polyphenols could flourish and contribute to the overall microbiome shift. Some previous studies showed decreased Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio by green tea polyphenols . In our study, PPE significantly increased the ratio in the intestine, except in cecal mucosa and colonic content (Figure S7, Supporting Information).…”

“…Many publications reported that dietary tea polyphenols, at different doses, attenuated body weight gain and decreased the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes in mice fed an HFD . It is unclear, however, whether the results were due to the prevention of HFD‐induced changes in microbiota by tea polyphenol treatment, and the role of intestinal microbiota in mediating the beneficial effects of tea, remain unclear.…”

Caecal infusion of the short‐chain fatty acid propionate affects the microbiota and expression of inflammatory cytokines in the colon in a fistula pig model

“…DNA concentrations were measured by a Nano-Drop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific Inc, Wilmington, DE, USA). The V3-V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified by PCR using primers 314F (5 0 -CCTACGGGNGGCWGCAG-3 0 ) and 805R (5 0 -GACTA CHVGGGTATCTAATCC-3 0 ) ( Guo et al, 2017). The PCR conditions and reaction mixtures were completed according to methods previously described .…”

Effect of freeze-dried green tea added in hamburgers as source of antioxidant during freezing storage

“…Green tea is obtained from Camellia sinensis , which is rich in flavonoids (Omaye & Dubick, ). The main bioactive components in GT are catechins, class of flavonoids and a group of polyphenols (Guo et al, ). The GT catechins are more effective (antioxidant activity) in comparison with other tea polyphenols (Ananingsih, Sharma, & Zhou, ).…”