📄 Paper Information
Title: Sulforaphane Improves Liver Metabolism and Gut Microbiota in Circadian Rhythm Disorder Mice Models Fed With High-Fat Diets
Authors/Source: Canxia He et al., Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2024
Link: PubMed
🔬 Background & Objective
Modern lifestyles often combine high-fat diets (HFDs) with circadian rhythm disruption, leading to liver metabolic disorders and gut microbiota imbalance (dysbiosis).
This study investigated the potential of sulforaphane (SFN) to mitigate these combined metabolic and microbial disturbances.
🧪 Methods
- Subjects: Mouse models
- Experimental Conditions:
- High-fat diet (HFD) feeding
- Circadian rhythm disruption
- Treatment: Sulforaphane group vs. control group
- Measurements:
- Liver lipid accumulation and liver function
- Intestinal inflammation and tissue integrity
- Gut microbiota composition (16S rRNA sequencing)
- Metabolomic indicators: bile acid metabolism, amino acid metabolites, and related pathways
🧠 Key Findings
✅ Reduced Liver Fat & Inflammation – Sulforaphane supplementation decreased hepatic lipid accumulation and improved both liver and intestinal inflammation.
✅ Balanced Metabolites – Levels of bile acid–related metabolites decreased, while amino acid metabolites increased significantly.
✅ Gut Microbiota Restoration – The proportion of beneficial bacteria increased, including Lachnospiraceae, Lactobacillus, Alistipes, Akkermansia, and Eubacterium coprostanoligenes.
✅ Metabolite–Microbiota Correlation – Changes in gut bacterial composition were correlated with improvements in liver metabolic markers.
📌 Conclusion
Sulforaphane effectively alleviated metabolic disorders and dysbiosis caused by a high-fat diet combined with circadian rhythm disruption.
These results suggest that sulforaphane may help protect metabolic organs such as the liver by improving gut health, suppressing inflammation, and restoring microbial balance.