The gut is home to a large number of intestinal microbiota that play an important role in the metabolism and immune system of the host. A growing body of evidence suggests that a high-fat diet is closely associated with many metabolic disorders, including fatty liver and type 2 diabetes. According to reports, Tartary buckwheat extract has a positive effect on intestinal microbiota in animals. The effects of Tartary buckwheat on biochemical indexes and intestinal microflora in mice were studied. Tartary buckwheat protein (FGP), Tartary buckwheat resistant starch (FGS) and Tartary buckwheat flour (FGF) alleviated organ damage in mice and lowered the atherosclerotic index (AI) in plasma. Otherwise, principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that intestinal bacterial structure of FGF were separated apparently from other groups. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) value of the high-fat (HF)-FGF group was significantly lower than that of the HF-FGP and HF-FGS groups. FGF significantly increases the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, while decreasing the abundance of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-producing bacteria. Observation of blood lipid metabolism parameters and analysis of the intestinal microbiota suggested that FGF can be more effective than FGP and FGS to reduce the effects of a high-fat diet in mice, restoring the blood parameters to values similar of those in mice fed a low-fat diet. FGF may be used to prevent or treat blood lipid metabolism disorders and intestinal microbiota disorders in mice fed a high-fat diet.

Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause oxidative damage and lead to various metabolic disease. Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn) is a new kind of protein-rich functional food, the protein in which has been proved to have good antioxidant capacity. In this study, in order to further explore the antioxidant mechanism of Tartary buckwheat protein, 4 peptides (CR-8, LR-8, GK-10 and SR-12) were isolated and identified from it. H₂O₂ was used to induce oxidative damage to Caco-2 cells to evaluate antioxidant capacity of these peptides. The results of superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and mitochondrial membrane potential etc. showed that these peptides have superior antioxidant capacity. CR-8 has the best antioxidant capacity. In order to further clarify the antioxidant mechanism of CR-8, metabolomics was used to analyze related metabolites and metabolic pathways. The results showed that after CR-8 intervention, the content of metabolites such as L-acetyl carnitine has increased. This indicated that CR-8 can improve the antioxidant capacity of damaged cells by intervening in multiple metabolic pathways. This also revealed the anti-oxidant mechanism of tartary buckwheat protein. In conclusion, it provided a theoretical basis for further studying the activity of tartary buckwheat portein and utilizing buckwheat resources.

Components with strong adsorption capacity for cholates from buckwheat proteins were screened, separated and purified by several methods, and the effects of ultra-high-pressure (UHP) on the structure and function of buckwheat 13S globulin (BW13SG) were studied. Samples were treated by UHP at different pH (3.0 and 7.0) value(s) and at 100–500 MPa for 10–30 min. The results showed that the tertiary structure of BW13SG was partially denatured and aggregated. The decrease in the unordered structure indicated that UHP resulted in a looser secondary structure of BW13SG. UHP treatment also increased solubility, emulsion activity and stability, foaming capacity and stability. The samples treated at 500 MPa, pH 3.0 for 30 min had the most enhanced functionality. Moreover, under this condition, the sodium cholate and sodium deoxycholate adsorption capacities of BW13SG were both higher than 98% and the adsorption capacity of sodium taurocholate, which can be difficult to adsorb, was higher than 60%.