Fatty Acids from Jinhua Hams Preventing Alcohol-induced Liver Damage by Ameliorating Gut Microbiota

The pathological characteristics of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) mainly include liver lipid accumulation, alcoholic steatohepatitis, alcohol fibrosis and cirrhosis. The dietary factors of alcohol and fat may contribute to the development of ALD. Chronic alcohol-fed mouse model was used to investigate the effect of fatty acids in Jinhua ham on ALD. Chronic treated with alcohol led to ALD in mice, characterized by alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic fatty liver, and imbalance in intestinal homeostasis. However, the fatty acids in Jinhua ham could prevent ALD from chronic alcohol consumption. In addition, the fatty acids in Jinhua ham with the liver protective activity were long chain saturated fatty acids (LCSFA), including palmitic acid and stearic acid. By contraries, long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids aggravated the pathogenesis of ALD. Furthermore, the mechanism of fatty acids in Jinhua ham precaution against ALD was ascribe to increasing the relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and Lactobacillus in the gut, which were beneficial to regulating intestinal homeostasis, ameliorating the intestinal barrier dysfunction and reducing alcoholic hepatitis and oxidative stress damage. This study demonstrated that the strategy of dietary supplementation of saturated fatty acids could prevent or mitigate ALD by regulating gut microbiota and improving intestinal barrier. This provides a more affordable dietary intervention strategy for the prevention of alcoholic liver injury.