{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T12:15:09Z","timestamp":1785413709965,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":74,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785110400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009377","name":"Education Department of Hunan Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2019-23"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019-23"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009377","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2019-23"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019-23"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05ckg3w11","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Hepatic lipid metabolism disorder has been linked to a wide range of diseases. Aspalathin is a flavonoid enriched in rooibos tea and has shown capacity to protect against hyperlipidemia, oxidative stress and inflammation. In the current study, we investigated the functional role of aspalathin in regulating liver metabolism and gut microbiota in the context of a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods: Male mice were fed a control diet or HFD, then HFD-fed animals were treated with or without aspalathin-rich extract (ASE). Hepatic neutral lipids were detected using oil red O staining and a colorimetric assay. Expression of cholesterol metabolism-, lipogenesis- and fatty acid \u03b2-oxidation-associated genes was measured. Gut microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatic approaches. Results: HFD-fed mice had markedly higher levels of triglycerides and cholesteryl esters and downregulated expression of cholesterol metabolism-, transport- and lipogenesis-related genes in the liver. ASE administration counteracted HFD-induced effects. In addition, HFD altered the composition, diversity and metabolic pathways of the gut microbiota. The richness of beneficial bacteria, particularly the butyrate-producing bacteria, was significantly decreased. The altered metabolic pathways are involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleotides, as well as mitochondrial function. ASE treatment reversed most of the alterations back to the characteristics of the control group. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the potential of ASE improving liver lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in the scenario of a high-fat diet, providing insights into future studies on the mechanism of ASE regulating lipid metabolism disorder.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18152452","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T14:08:14Z","timestamp":1785161294000},"page":"2452","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Aspalathin-Rich Rooibos Tea Extract Regulates Hepatic Lipid Metabolism and Gut Microbiota in High-Fat Diet Fed Mice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-0684-6447","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xing","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, Pu Ai Medical School, Shaoyang University, Shaoyang 422000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical College, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua 418000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8585-3429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Khalid S.","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Zakho, Zakho 42002, Kurdistan Region, Iraq"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-0935-7056","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michal R.","family":"Baran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Research Centre for Health, School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Reilly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Research Centre for Health, School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6821-2120","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christo J. F.","family":"Muller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Diabetes Discovery Platform, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johan","family":"Louw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Diabetes Discovery Platform, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5753-0091","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hui-Rong","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0RE, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3760-3019","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xinhua","family":"Shu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Research Centre for Health, School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2023.01.009","article-title":"Gut microbiome lipid metabolism and its impact on host physiology","volume":"31","author":"Brown","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1186\/s12944-024-02425-1","article-title":"Lipids dysregulation in diseases: Core concepts, targets and treatment strategies","volume":"24","author":"Dakal","year":"2025","journal-title":"Lipids Health Dis."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1016\/j.semcancer.2026.01.003","article-title":"Lipid metabolic alterations in cancer: Common pathophysiology with cardiovascular disease","volume":"119","author":"Rotllan","year":"2026","journal-title":"Semin. 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