Gut microbiota, determined by dietary nutrients, drive modification of the plasma lipid profile and insulin resistance

The gut microbiota metabolizes the nutrients to produce various metabolites that play crucial roles in host metabolism. However, the links between the microbiota established by different nutrients and the microbiota-influenced changes in the plasma lipids remain unclear. Diets rich in cornstarch, fructose, branched chain amino acids, soybean oil (SO), or lard established a unique microbiota and had influence on glucose metabolism, which was partially reproduced by transferring the microbiota. Comparison of plasma lipidomic analysis between germ-free and colonized mice revealed significant impacts of the microbiota on various lipid classes, and of note, the microbiota established by the SO diet, which was associated with the greatest degree of glucose intolerance, caused the maximum alteration of the plasma lipid profile. Thus, the gut microbiota composed of dietary nutrients was associated with dynamic changes in the lipids potentially having differential effects on glucose metabolism.