Quinoa Ameliorates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity in Female Mice by Regulating Gut Microbiota and Adipogenesis

The female obesity epidemic remains a major global public health challenge, with limited effective treatments available. Daily dietary management serves as an effective strategy for obesity prevention. As a promising functional food, quinoa has been demonstrated to possess anti-obesity properties. However, the mechanisms of quinoa on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced female obesity and its role in regulating adipose tissue remain unclear. In the present study, the effects of different dosages of quinoa on obesity and its underlying mechanisms were investigated in an HFD-induced mouse model of obesity. Six-week-old female C57BL/6J mice were fed an HFD to induce obesity, followed by an 8-week intervention with low dosage of quinoa (LQ), medium dosage of quinoa (MQ), and high dosage of quinoa (HQ), respectively. Then, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to investigate gut microbial community and transcriptome analysis was conducted to characterize differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in gonadal white adipose tissue (gWAT) in mice. The HQ group significantly attenuated body weight in HFD-fed mice. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis revealed that the three intervention groups exhibited distinct bacterial community profiles, and the bacterial taxa significantly enriched in response to quinoa intake were identified. Notably, the HQ group modulated gut microbiota composition, demonstrating significant regulatory effects on the populations of Bacteroidota, Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, and Muribaculaceae, while concurrently reducing the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis revealed that HQ treatment modulated HFD-induced DEGs associated with pathways of "transmembrane transporter complex," "ion gated channel activity," and "calcium ion binding" in gWAT. These findings suggest that quinoa alleviates HFD-induced obesity by regulating community structure of gut microbiota and the ion channel in gWAT, providing a strong theoretical foundation for the development of quinoa products for the treatment of female obesity.