Issue 9, 2019

Dietary methionine restriction improves the gut microbiota and reduces intestinal permeability and inflammation in high-fat-fed mice

Abstract

Methionine-restricted diets (MRD) have been shown to prevent high fat diet (HFD) induced complications including fat accumulation, insulin sensitivity decrease, oxidative stress and inflammation increase. We hypothesized that intestinal microbiota changes may mediate these effects, and this study aims to prove this hypothesis. Mice were fed a normal diet (ND, 0.86% methionine + 4% fat), a HF diet (HFD, 0.86% methionine + 20% fat), or a MRD (0.17% methionine + 20% fat) and euthanized at week 22. Our results showed that the HFD induced fat accumulation and gut microbiota dysbiosis; reduced short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production; and increased intestinal permeability, inflammatory response, and oxidative stress. The MRD decreased the body weight, body fat rate, and blood glucose and plasma lipid levels; increased the abundance of putative SCFA-producing bacteria Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, Roseburia, Coprococcus, and Ruminococcus and inflammation-inhibiting bacteria Oscillospira and Corynebacterium; and decreased the abundance of inflammation-producing bacteria Desulfovibrio in colonic contents. Moreover, the MRD improved intestinal barrier function, inflammatory response, and oxidative stress, and altered the metabolite levels of colonic contents (such as increasing SCFA and bile acid concentrations); the latter may have contributed to the prevention of HFD-induced obesity. In conclusion, the MRD can improve gut health by regulating the intestinal microbiota and its metabolite profiles in the HFD mice. Reducing methionine intake by simple dietary adjustment may be an effective method to improve intestinal health in animals and humans.

Graphical abstract: Dietary methionine restriction improves the gut microbiota and reduces intestinal permeability and inflammation in high-fat-fed mice

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Apr 2019
Accepted
13 Aug 2019
First published
13 Aug 2019

Food Funct., 2019,10, 5952-5968

Dietary methionine restriction improves the gut microbiota and reduces intestinal permeability and inflammation in high-fat-fed mice

Y. Yang, Y. Zhang, Y. Xu, T. Luo, Y. Ge, Y. Jiang, Y. Shi, J. Sun and G. Le, Food Funct., 2019, 10, 5952 DOI: 10.1039/C9FO00766K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements