Indonesian Brown rice improves obesity parameters and dysbiosis of gut microbiota

BACKGROUND: Brown rice contains nutrients that significantly reduce the incidence of obesity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of brown rice as a functional food on the reduction of obesity incidence through the pathways of gut microbiota dysbiosis. METHODS: In this study, we used white rats (Rattus norvegicus albus), which were divided into five groups, i.e., Normal, High fructose feed diet (HFFD), HFFD + Brown rice (BR) I, HFFD + BR II, HFFD + BR III. The parameters were SCFA concentration, FFAR3 expression, and Firmicutes- Bacteroidetes ratio. RESULTS: The rats fed HFFD + BR III diet with a high intake of brown rice resulted in a greater reduction in abdominal circumference. The group of rats fed the HFFD had a higher BFI than the other rats. The brown rice intervention reduced the Lee index, a higher concentration of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA), and led to a higher reduction in Firmicutes- Bacteroidetes ratio. The brown rice intervention also increased the FFAR3 expression in the rat ileal L cells. CONCLUSIONS: Brown rice has significant benefits for reducing obesity, as evidenced by the improvement in the abdominal circumference, Lee index, and BFI through the improvement of intestinal dysbiosis and increase in SCFA concentration and FFAR3 expression.