Time-Restricted Feeding Modifies the Fecal Lipidome and the Gut Microbiota

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) has been identified as an approach to reduce the risk of obesity-related metabolic diseases. We hypothesize that TRF triggers a change in nutrient (e.g., dietary fat) absorption due to shortened feeding times, which subsequently alters the fecal microbiome and lipidome. In this report, three groups of C57BL/6 mice were fed either a control diet with ad libitum feeding (16% energy from fat) (CTRL-AL), a high-fat diet (48% energy from fat) with ad libitum feeding (HF-AL), or a high-fat diet with time-restricted feeding (HF-TRF) for 12 weeks. No changes in microbiota at the phylum level were detected, but eight taxonomic families were altered by either feeding timing or dietary fat content. The HF-AL diet doubled the total fecal fatty acid content of the CTRL-AL diet, while the HF-TRF doubled the total fecal fatty acid content of the HF-AL diet. Primary fecal bile acids were unaffected by diet. Total short-chain fatty acids were reduced by HF-AL, but this effect was diminished by HF-TRF. Each diet produced distinct relationships between the relative abundance of taxa and fecal lipids. The anti-obesogenic effects of TRF in HF diets are partly due to the increase in fat excretion in the feces. Furthermore, fat content and feeding timing differentially affect the fecal microbiota and the relationship between the microbiota and fecal lipids.