Abstract:To investigate the mechanisms of the aqueous extract of Anhua dark tea in controlling the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） in mice， this study randomly divided the C57BL/6J mice into blank group，model group， western medicine group （atorvastatin， 10 mg/kg）， low-dose （0.75 g/kg）， medium-dose （1.5 g/kg），and high-dose （3.0 g/kg） Anhua dark tea group. A prevention model was taken and the drug was administered simultaneously with feeding a high-fat and high-sugar diet for 10 consecutive weeks. The results showed that compared with the mice in the model group， the mice in the low-， medium-and high-dose Anhua dark tea groups showed significantly decrease in body mass （P＜0.01）， significantly reduced body mass gain （P＜0.01）， and significantly reduced total cholesterol（TC）， triglycerides（TG）， low-density lipoprotein cholesterol（LDL-C） and alanine aminotransferase（ALT） levels （P＜0.05， P＜0.01）. Moreover， they demonstrated refined hepatic steatosis and hepatocyte ballooning， improved ileal pathological lesions， and increased expression of occludin and zonula occludens-1 （ZO-1）. Mice in the high-dose Anhua dark tea group had an increase in the relative abundance of the Bacteroidetes， Muribaculaceae_unclassified and Lactobacillus， and decrease in the relative abundance of the Firmicutes， Desulfovibrio， and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136. In conclusion， Anhua dark tea could improve the intestinal mucosal barrier function and regulate the gut microbiota， restoring a healthy intestinal microecology， and it may control NAFLD by regulating the gut-liver axis.