Dietary synthetic emulsifiers have recently been shown to promote metabolic syndrome and alter the gut microbiota. The effects of natural emulsifiers, such as vegetable lecithin, remain poorly described. Our objective was to evaluate, in mice, the impact of soy and rapeseed lecithin (SL and RL), both rich in essential α-linolenic acid (ALA), on HFD-induced adiposity, inflammation and the gut microbiota. For 13 weeks, male Swiss mice (n=72) were fed a Chow diet, a HFD devoid of ALA, or different ALA-enriched HFD (identical ALA content: 4.7%) containing 0% lecithin (HF-0L), a nutritional dose (10%) of SL or RL (HF-10SL, HF-10RL) or a supplemental dose of RL (20%; HF-20RL). Biometric parameters and the epididymal adipose tissue (EAT) were analysed; hepatic lipid composition was determined by GC-FID, gene expression by RT-qPCR, and faecal microbiota composition by 16S sequencing. In all groups fed ALA-rich diets, the proportion of ALA in both liver triacylglycerols and phospholipids was increased, but the vectorisation of ALA as lecithin did not further increase its hepatic bioavailability, compared to an oil (HF-0L). The incorporation of 10% SL, but not RL, in ALA-enriched HFD significantly increased weight gain (p<0.001) and adiposity (p<0.001) vs Chow. Both HFD and HF-10SL induced increased expression of genes of macrophage infiltration in the EAT (ex. Tnfα, Cd11c) vs Chow (p<0.05), while HF-0L and RL induced levels of such inflammatory markers in-between Chow and HFD. Finally, HF-10RL reduced HFD-induced loss of α-diversity of the gut microbiota and altered the abundance of several bacterial groups, such as Desulfovibrionaceae. All in all, the addition of lecithins to HFD did not exacerbate HFD-inflammation and RL increased gut bacterial diversity. This study hence illustrates the importance of considering certain natural emulsifiers, notably rapeseed lecithin, as alternatives to synthetic emulsifiers of known detrimental effects.