Food phenolics stimulate adipocyte browning via regulating gut microecology

Abstract

Fat browning has piqued the interest of researchers as a potential target for treating obesity and related metabolic disorders. Recruitment of brown adipocytes leads to enhanced energy dissipation and reduced adiposity, thus facilitating the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis. Evidence is increasing to support the crucial roles of polyphenols and gut microecology in turning fat “brown”. However, it is not clear whether the intestinal microecology is involved in polyphenol-mediated regulation of adipose browning, so this concept is worthy of exploration. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge, mostly from studies with murine models, supporting the concept that the effects of food phenolics on brown fat activation and white fat browning can be attributed to their regulatory actions on gut microecology, including microbial community profile, gut metabolites, and gut-derived hormones. Furthermore, the potential underlying pathways involved are also discussed. Basically, understanding gut microecology paves the way to determine the underlying roles and mechanisms of food phenolics in adipose browning.

Keywords:

• Adipose browning
• gut microecology
• hormones
• metabolites
• microbiota
• polyphenols

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31771978), the Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province (No. NY-095), the National First-class Discipline Program of Food Science and Technology (No. JUFSTR20180201), the Innovation and Exploration Fund of State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University (No. SKLF-ZZB-202102) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. JUSRP21802). Mark Christian was supported by BBSRC grant BB/P008879/2.