Dietary rhamnogalacturonan-I rich extracts of molokhia ameliorate high fat diet-induced obesity and gut dysbiosis

Obesity is a global health issue associated with increased prevalence of disease and mortality. Molokhia (Corchorus olitorius L.) leaves, used as veg-etables in Asia and Africa, comprise abundant water-soluble mucilage polysaccharides. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of molokhia leaf polysaccharide fraction (MPF) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and gut dysbiosis in mice. A significant decrease was observed in the body weight, adipocyte size, triglyceride serum, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, as well as in the expression of lipid synthesis-related proteins in mice treated with 4 mg/kg of MPF (MPF4). Moreover, the expression of the tight junction protein increased significantly; however, gut permeability and related inflammatory marker levels decreased in the MPF4 group. Furthermore, MPF ameliorated gut dysbiosis, whereas the MPF4 group presented a decreased Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratios and an increased abundance of Akkermansia during exposure to HFD. Our findings reveal that rhamnogalacturonan-I rich MPF attenuates obesity in mice subjected to HFD by modulating the gut microbiota. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )