DISCUSSION
asthmatic, dyslipidemia, hyperlipidemia
ASTHMATIC, HIGH TRIGLYCERIDES, DYSLIPIDEMIA, HYPERLIPIDEMIA
Gut microbiota are associated with the host metabolism and may influence the onset and development of hyperlipidemia (Our data supported that the intake of the probiotic mix could effectively reduce the serum levels of TC and LDL-C, while increasing serum HDL-C levels, in patients with hyperlipidemia. Such results supported that probiotic application could regulate hosts’ lipid metabolism. There are different subtypes of dyslipidemia (e.g., high cholesterol and/or high triglycerides), which would require different treatment approaches. For example, Yan et al. found that oryzanol could reduce the TC of serum in rats (The results of the self-administered questionnaire revealed interesting and desirable lifestyle habit changes (such as increased daily vegetable consumption, regular dairy consumption, and increased weekly exercise time) in hyperlipidemic patients that showed significant improvement in blood lipid indexes (TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C) after probiotic consumption. Indeed, there was a strong association between the desirable changes in patients’ lifestyle habits and lowering of these indexes. Wastyk et al. believe that diet and gut microbiota are interacting bidirectionally. In other words, diet regulates the gut microbiota, and vice versa (Although a large body of study has supported that the gut microbiota serve as an important mediator of lipid metabolism, our study did not observe drastic probiotic-driven changes in the fecal microbiota structure and composition, which could be related to the high complexity of the human gut microbiota. Similar observation was made by Liu et al., where the authors investigated effects of probiotics on the gut microbiome of asthmatic patients (The blood lipid metabolome of subjects did not change significantly regardless of probiotic intervention, but further analysis of lipid metabolites identified two differential metabolites, i.e., acetyl-carnitine and free carnitine, that were significantly increased after the mixed probiotic intervention. The human body, as an extremely complex microecosystem, has a strong capacity to maintain organismal stability by self-regulation, which may be one of the reasons for the nonsignificant change in the overall blood metabolome and low number of differential metabolites. However, it is worth noting that acetyl-carnitine plays an integral role in lipid metabolism by participating in the β-oxidation of long-chain fatty acids (Our further analysis found that 