Effects of Lactobacillus paracasei N1115 on dyslipidaemia: A randomized controlled study

Probiotics could improve our health by balancing the gut microbiota or interacting with intestinal mucosa directly. This randomized, single-blind, controlled intervention study purposed to explore the effects of Lactobacillus paracasei N1115 (LP N1115) on dyslipidaemia. A total of 109 dyslipidaemia subjects were recruited and divided randomly into two groups: 52 subjects in probiotics group and 57 subjects in placebo group. Blood samples were collected to test serum lipid parameters. Fecal samples were collected to analyze the gut microbiota by Illumina Miseq sequence machine. Administration of 4 × 1010 CFU/day LP N1115 for 12 weeks was found to improve dyslipidaemia profiles by lowering serum total cholesterol (TC) (P = 0.028) and apolipoprotein B (Apo-B) (P = 0.028). A significant decrease in FPG was also found in probiotic group (P = 0.001). The Chao1 index increased significantly in probiotic group after intervention (P < 0.01), which did not happen in placebo group. Shannon Index increased and Simpson index decreased significantly between groups at week 12 (P < 0.001). The relative abundance of Alistipes spp. and Fusobacterium spp. decreased significantly, and the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. increased significantly in placebo group. The relative abundance of Megamonas spp. Faecalibacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. increased significantly, the relative abundance of Bacteroides spp. and Phascolarctobacterium spp. decreased significantly in probiotic group. However, the overall gut microbial structure did not change significantly from the view of Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) of Bray-Curtis distance in probiotic group. The above results showed that LP N1115 might have the potential to regulate metabolic disorders such as TC, LDL-C and FPG, and also increased some of the abundance and diversity index of gut microbiota in dyslipidemias population. However, the evidence is not strong enough. Larger sample size and longer intervention period are needed to verify the efficacy of LP N1115. The mechanism is still vague and will need further well-designed studies to clarify.