Tea polysaccharides from Taiping Houkui may serve as a potential candidate for regulation of lipid metabolism: Roles of gut microbiota and metabolite in vitro

Taiping Houkui (TPHK) is a well-known green tea in China. However, tea polysaccharide (TPS) from TPHK green tea and its potential health-promoting functions are less well known. Thus, the potential prebiotic function of TPS were investigated. The result showed TPS could escape digestion by host enzymes in the upper gut, and then further broken down and utilized by gut microbiota in large intestine. On the other hand, TPS could modulate the gut microbiota, including decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes, promoting the growth of Bacteroides, and improving the pathway of amino acid metabolism. TPS could increase the productions of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Moreover, TPS showed a limited effect on the triglyceride (TG) level in a HepG2 cell model, whereas, the fermentation solution of TPS could remarkably reduce lipid accumulation in cell. Thus, TPS could be developed as a potential antiobesogenic candidate by remodeling the gut microbiota and its metabolites.