An Energy-Restricted Diet Including Yogurt, Fruit, and Vegetables Alleviates High-Fat Diet–Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Mice by Modulating the Gut Microbiota

The importance of the composition of an energy-restricted diet in the treatment of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is unknown.This study aimed to investigate the benefits of a novel dietary treatment (50% calorie restriction diet composed of yogurt, fruit, and vegetables (CR-YD)) on MetS mice.Forty 7-week-old male C57BL/6 J mice were randomly assigned to 4 groups (n = 10/group) that consumed for 14week ad libitum a normal diet (ND, 10:70:20% energy from fat: carbohydrate: protein) or a high-fat diet (HFD, 60:20:20) or the HFD for 12week followed by 2week of consuming at 50% calorie-restriction the HFD (CR-HFD) or YD (CR-YD, 21.2: 65.4: 13.4% energy). Body weight, fat deposition, hepatic steatosis, serum concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers, and glucose homeostasis were assessed. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was used to validate the roles of gut microbiota in MetS.The HFD group had 50% greater body weight and 475% greater fat deposition than the ND group (P 0.05). Compared with the HFD group, the CR-HFD and CR-YD groups had 22% and 31% lower body weight and 49% and 75% less fat deposition, respectively (P 0.05). Compared with the CR-HFD group, the CR-YD group had 11% lower body weight, 96% less fat deposition, 500% less hepatic steatosis, 75% lower glucose, 450% greater hepatic Akkermansia (P 0.05). The CR-YD group also had 50% lower histopathology scores, and 1.35-fold higher levels of Claudin4 than the CR-HFD group (P 0.05). HFD + CR-YD fecal group had 10.6% lower body weight, 119% lower steatosis, and 17.9% lower glucose (P 0.05) than HFD + CR-HFD fecal group.Compared with CR alone, the CR-YD diet has a better therapeutic effect in mice with HFD-induced MetS.