Targeting Gut Microbiota and Host Metabolism with Dendrobium officinale Dietary Fiber to Prevent Obesity and Improve Glucose Homeostasis in Diet-Induced Obese Mice

Scope: Obesity is becoming a major public health problem due to excess dietary fat intake. Dendrobium officinale (D. officinale) is a medicine food homology plant and exerts multiple health-promoting effects. However, its antiobesity effects and the potential mechanisms remain unclear.

Methods and results: High-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice are administered D. officinale dietary fiber (DODF) daily by gavage for 11 weeks. The results show that treatment with DODF alleviates obesity, liver steatosis, inflammation, and oxidant stress in HFD-induced obese mice. Improved glucose homeostasis in obese mice after DODF treatment is achieved by enhancing insulin pathway and hepatic glycogen synthesis. DODF restructures the gut microbiota in obese mice by decreasing the relative abundance of Bilophila and increasing the relative abundances of Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, and Muribaculum. Also, DODF reshapes the metabolic phenotype of obese mice as indicated by up-regulating energy metabolism, increasing acetate and taurine, and reducing serum low density/very low density lipoproteins (LDL/VLDL). These beneficial effects are partly transferred by FMT, implying the gut microbiota as a target for the protective effect of DODF on obesity-related symptoms.

Conclusion: The results suggest that DODF can be used as a novel prebiotics to maintain the gut microbial homeostasis and improve metabolic health, preventing obesity and related metabolic syndrome.