Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice

Obesity has emerged as a global health issue with its prevalence continuously increasing and being associated with multiple comorbidities. Although existing medications are effective, they often come with significant side effects, making dietary therapy an advantageous alternative. Hawthorn leaves a...

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Main Authors: Ziqi Liu, Tianrui Gao, Haoyu Chang, Yuqing Xu, Letao Wang, Xiangyi Wang, Jiayin Lang, Yingxing Yu, Ying Xiao, Ye Peng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Current Research in Food Science
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927125000565
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author Ziqi Liu
Tianrui Gao
Haoyu Chang
Yuqing Xu
Letao Wang
Xiangyi Wang
Jiayin Lang
Yingxing Yu
Ying Xiao
Ye Peng
author_facet Ziqi Liu
Tianrui Gao
Haoyu Chang
Yuqing Xu
Letao Wang
Xiangyi Wang
Jiayin Lang
Yingxing Yu
Ying Xiao
Ye Peng
author_sort Ziqi Liu
collection DOAJ
description Obesity has emerged as a global health issue with its prevalence continuously increasing and being associated with multiple comorbidities. Although existing medications are effective, they often come with significant side effects, making dietary therapy an advantageous alternative. Hawthorn leaves and their active component, vitexin, have shown potential in regulating lipid metabolism and improving gut microbiota imbalance. This study utilized a high-fat diet-induced obese mouse model, administering different doses of hawthorn leaves and vitexin for 13 weeks, and employed 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics to analyze the composition of gut microbiota and metabolites. The results demonstrated that hawthorn leaves and vitexin significantly slowed body weight gain, improved glucose tolerance, regulated blood lipid levels, and downregulated the expression of obesity-related gene in mice (ppar-α, ppar-γ, fas). Additionally, the treatment groups showed a significant improvement in gut microbiota diversity. Both vitexin and hawthorn leaves increased the abundance of Kineothrix, Paramuribaculum, Lawsonibacter (which belong to the Bacillota phylum) and Olsenella (Actinobacteria phylum), while reducing the abundance of Anaerotignum (Bacillota phylum). Moreover, the hawthorn leaves and vitexin treatments may alleviate obesity-related symptoms by increasing the fecal content of testosterone propionate, formoterol, and isoleucyl-prolyl-proline, and decreasing the content of Trolox. These findings highlight the potential of hawthorn leaves and vitexin as functional foods for obesity management by modulating gut microbiota pathways, offering a promising dietary therapy approach.
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spelling doaj-art-43f40b8e27c5485c942ceadd35b60adf2025-08-20T03:45:28ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Food Science2665-92712025-01-011010102510.1016/j.crfs.2025.101025Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in miceZiqi Liu0Tianrui Gao1Haoyu Chang2Yuqing Xu3Letao Wang4Xiangyi Wang5Jiayin Lang6Yingxing Yu7Ying Xiao8Ye Peng9Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, ChinaGuangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, ChinaFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, China; Corresponding author. Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, China.Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, 999078, China; Corresponding author. Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, China.Obesity has emerged as a global health issue with its prevalence continuously increasing and being associated with multiple comorbidities. Although existing medications are effective, they often come with significant side effects, making dietary therapy an advantageous alternative. Hawthorn leaves and their active component, vitexin, have shown potential in regulating lipid metabolism and improving gut microbiota imbalance. This study utilized a high-fat diet-induced obese mouse model, administering different doses of hawthorn leaves and vitexin for 13 weeks, and employed 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics to analyze the composition of gut microbiota and metabolites. The results demonstrated that hawthorn leaves and vitexin significantly slowed body weight gain, improved glucose tolerance, regulated blood lipid levels, and downregulated the expression of obesity-related gene in mice (ppar-α, ppar-γ, fas). Additionally, the treatment groups showed a significant improvement in gut microbiota diversity. Both vitexin and hawthorn leaves increased the abundance of Kineothrix, Paramuribaculum, Lawsonibacter (which belong to the Bacillota phylum) and Olsenella (Actinobacteria phylum), while reducing the abundance of Anaerotignum (Bacillota phylum). Moreover, the hawthorn leaves and vitexin treatments may alleviate obesity-related symptoms by increasing the fecal content of testosterone propionate, formoterol, and isoleucyl-prolyl-proline, and decreasing the content of Trolox. These findings highlight the potential of hawthorn leaves and vitexin as functional foods for obesity management by modulating gut microbiota pathways, offering a promising dietary therapy approach.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927125000565ObesityHawthorn leavesVitexinGut microbiotaMetabolic regulation
spellingShingle Ziqi Liu
Tianrui Gao
Haoyu Chang
Yuqing Xu
Letao Wang
Xiangyi Wang
Jiayin Lang
Yingxing Yu
Ying Xiao
Ye Peng
Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
Current Research in Food Science
Obesity
Hawthorn leaves
Vitexin
Gut microbiota
Metabolic regulation
title Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
title_full Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
title_fullStr Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
title_full_unstemmed Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
title_short Hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high-fat diet-induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
title_sort hawthorn leaf and its extract alleviate high fat diet induced obesity and modulate gut microbiome in mice
topic Obesity
Hawthorn leaves
Vitexin
Gut microbiota
Metabolic regulation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927125000565
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