Alteration of Basal Blood Glucose Level and Microbiota Metabolic Parameters in Rats Fed with Brown Rice and Herbal Extracts

Obesity has been identified as a cause of various diseases. The main solution in dealing with this metabolic syndrome is a healthy lifestyle, with intake of fibrous and herbal extracts. Various studies have shown that gut microbiota involved in many metabolic syndromes. This study aims to determine the effect of brown rice and herbal extracts (Cuminum cyminum and Alpinia galanga) on the physiological profile of rat gut microbiota. The research was done by measuring changes in the physiological profile of the gut microbiota, analyzing metagenome of gut microbiota using Next Generation Sequencing technology, and also observing changes in blood glucose and cholesterol levels for three weeks in normal condition. Changes in the physiological level of significant microbiota were used as reference points at the later stage. The average blood glucose level of rats in the all treatment groups was decreased except for the group treated with the mixture of brown rice and Alpinia galanga. The rats fed with combination of brown rice and herbal extracts showed the highest Average Well Color Development (AWCD) index. Moreover, this treatment group had also the highest degradation activity in almost all types of substrates as observation proceeds. These results suggest that the combination of brown rice with bioactive compounds contained in those extracts provides a healthy gut microbiome. In conclusion, our results showed that the differences in type of food intake can affect the physiological conditions of the hosts’ body and metabolic parameters of rat intestinal microbiota.