Regulation of Cecal Microbiota and Improvement of Blood Lipids Using Walnut Non-Dairy Creamer in High-Fat Mice: Replacing Traditional Non-Dairy Creamer

Non-dairy creamer is a class of microencapsulated powdered fats and oils that are widely used in the food industry. However, the oils used in it are hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain large amounts of saturated fatty acids and are extremely harmful to the human body. This study investigated the effects of replacing hydrogenated vegetable oil with walnut oil to prepare walnut non-dairy creamer on lipid levels and intestinal microorganisms in mice. The results show that low-dose walnut non-dairy creamer significantly decreased the contents of TC and TG in serum and increased the content of HDL-C (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The contents of MDA, ALT, and AST were significantly decreased, while the content of SOD was increased (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The abundance of <i>Firmicutes</i> in the walnut non-dairy creamer group decreased, and the abundance of <i>Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes</i> (B/F) increased, which significantly increased the richness of <i>Lactobacillus</i> and <i>Oscillospira</i> (<i>p</i> < 0.01). <i>Allobaculum</i> richness was significantly decreased (<i>p</i> < 0.01). In conclusion, a low dose of walnut non-dairy creamer can effectively promote the metabolism of blood lipids in vivo, alleviate oxidative stress injury and lipid accumulation damage to mouse hepatocytes, and ameliorate the adverse effects of a high-fat diet on the intestinal microbiota of mice. This study provides a theoretical basis for the replacement of traditional non-dairy creamer and the research and development of walnut deep processing.