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Obesity, a global health concern, is linked with numerous metabolic and inflammatory disorders. Tibetan tea, a traditional Chinese beverage rich in theabrownin, is investigated in this study for its potential anti-obesity effects. Our work demonstrates that Tibetan tea consumption in C57BL/6J mice significantly mitigates obesity-related phenotypic changes without altering energy intake. Computational prediction revealed that Tibetan tea consumption reconstructs gene expression in white adipose tissue (WAT), promoting lipid catabolism and thereby increasing energy expenditure. We also note that Tibetan tea suppresses inflammation in WAT, reducing adipocyte hyperplasia and immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, Tibetan tea induces profound metabolic reprogramming, influencing amino acid metabolic pathways, specifically enhancing glutamine synthesis, which in turn suppresses pro-inflammatory chemokine production. These findings highlight Tibetan tea as a potential candidate in obesity prevention, providing a nuanced understanding of its capacity to modulate the cellular composition and metabolic landscape of WAT.

Microbial fermentation, a key step in Tibetan tea production, plays a pivotal role in forming the tea's unique quality. In our study, we mapped out the landscapes of major components, metabolomic signatures, and microbial features of Tibetan tea using component content determination, untargeted metabolomic analysis, and ITS and 16S rRNA sequencing. The results reveal that theabrownin content demonstrated a consistent growth trend post-fermentation, increasing from 41.96 ± 1.64 mg/g to 68.75 ± 2.58 mg/g. However, the content of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) significantly dwindled from 80.02 ± 0.51 mg/g to 8.12 ± 0.07 mg/g. Additionally, 518 metabolites were pinpointed as pivotal to the metabolic variation induced by microbial fermentation. The microbiome analysis exhibited a considerable shift in the microbiota signature, with Aspergillus emerging as the dominant microorganism. To conclude, these findings offer novel perspectives for enhancing the quality of Tibetan tea and abbreviating fermentation time through the regulation of microbiota structure., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)