Dietary flaxseed oil regulate lipid metabolism associated with modulation of gut microbiota in high-fat-diet fed mice

Accumulating data suggest that consuming dietary flaxseed oil (FSO) was a potential strategy for treating diet-induced lipid metabolism disorder (LMD). Effects of FSO on high-fat-diet (HFD) induced LMD and gut microbiota were studied in C57/BL6J mice. Results showed that FSO remarkably suppressed body weight gain induced by HFD and also attenuated LMD by decreasing levels of total cholesterol (TC), total triglyceride (TG), lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) and fasting bloodglucose (FBG) in serum. FSO treatment modulated m RNA expression level of genes associated with glucose and lipid metabolism. It regulated gut microbiome at different taxonomic levels by increasing proportions of beneficial Alistipes, Anaeroplasma,Bifidobacterium and inhibiting the growth of insulin resistance or obesity-associated bacteria such as Adlercreutzia, Dorea and Sporosarcina, compared with HFD group. Spearman's correlation analysis suggested that modulation of gut microbiota by FSO were closely related with LMD parameters. These findings might help us to better understand FSO impact on human health.