{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T05:05:40Z","timestamp":1784005540187,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease for which safe dietary interventions remain limited.\n                    <jats:italic>Toona sinensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    leaves, a traditional medicinal food rich in polyphenols and flavonoids, exhibit anti-inflammatory potential; however, how processing techniques modulate their functional nutrition and anti-colitis activity is poorly understood. In the present study, we compared hot air-dried\n                    <jats:italic>T. sinensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    leaves (TL) and black tea-processed leaf tea (TLT) in a mouse model of DSS-induced colitis (\n                    <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                    = 8 per group) at a dose of 20 mg\/ml (approximately 3.33 g\/kg body weight per day) via drinking water, with Keemun black tea (BT) as a positive plant-based dietary control. Both TL and TLT significantly mitigated DSS-induced colitis; notably, TLT showed significantly stronger efficacy than TL (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.05) and exhibited efficacy comparable to BT. TLT restored colonic histopathology, upregulated tight junction proteins (ZO-1 and Occludin), and suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1\u03b2 and TNF-\u03b1). Black tea processing of\n                    <jats:italic>T. sinensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    leaves increased bioactive components including total flavonoids and polyphenols, which strongly correlated with protective indicators (|r| &amp;gt; 0.6,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.01). TLT also restored gut microbial diversity and enriched SCFA-producing genera such as\n                    <jats:italic>Akkermansia, Odoribacter<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Untargeted metabolomics identified 23 key anti-inflammatory metabolites including kaempferol and quercetin glycosides. Multi-omics integration revealed significant correlations among metabolites, gut microbiota, and protective endpoints. Collectively, these results demonstrate that dietary intervention with black tea-processed\n                    <jats:italic>T. sinensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    leaves alleviates UC primarily by increasing flavonoid content, protecting intestinal barrier integrity, and remodeling gut microbiota homeostasis. This study provides a theoretical basis for the value-added utilization of\n                    <jats:italic>T. sinensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    leaves as a functional food for dietary intervention against inflammatory bowel disease.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1888003","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T04:21:56Z","timestamp":1784002916000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Black tea-processed Toona sinensis leaves alleviate DSS-induced ulcerative colitis in mice by enriching flavonoids and modulating gut microbiota"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Mengdi","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fuyang Normal University","place":["Fuyang, 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China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guangshun","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biology and Food Engineering, Fuyang Normal University","place":["Fuyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guohuo","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biology and Food Engineering, Fuyang Normal University","place":["Fuyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"104068","DOI":"10.1016\/j.autrev.2026.104068","article-title":"Dynamic profiling in inflammatory Bowel disease: a manifesto for personalized care","volume":"25","author":"Privitera","year":"2026","journal-title":"Autoimmun 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