Obesity is an increasingly widespread global health concern, strongly associated with metabolic disorders and imbalanced gut microbiota. This study evaluated the effects of 3'-hydroxypterostilbene (OHPt) on high-fat diet-induced obesity and gut dysbiosis in C57BL/6 mice. OHPt significantly reduced body weight gain and adiposity without altering food intake. It improved lipid profiles by lowering triglycerides, total cholesterol, and the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio. These benefits were associated with the upregulation of LDLR, LXR-α, and CYP7A1 and the downregulation of SREBP-2 and HMGCR, enhancing cholesterol homeostasis. OHPt also strengthened intestinal barrier integrity through increased expression of ZO-1 and occludin. Gut microbiota analysis showed that OHPt significantly increased Akkermansia, while reducing Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Ruminococcus, and Allobaculum. These microbial shifts were inversely associated with weight gain, lipid accumulation, dyslipidemia, and the atherogenic index. Collectively, these results indicate that OHPt has potential as a natural intervention for obesity and associated metabolic complications.
Yeh et al. (Sat,) studied this question.