Garry X. Shen

Intake of whole grain foods is associated with improving metabolic profile compared to refined grain products, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The present study examined the effects of brown rice (BRR) or germinated brown rice (GBR) supplementation on fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and relationship with gut microbiota, metabolism and inflammation in high fat (HF)-diet-fed mice. The results demonstrated that an HF diet supplemented with BRR or GBR comparably increased the abundance of fecal isobutyric acid compared to that in mice receiving HF+white rice (WHR) diet (p < 0.01). The abundance of valeric acid in HF+GBR-diet-fed mice was higher than those receiving HF+WHR diet (p < 0.05). The abundances of fecal isobutyric acid negatively correlated with fasting plasma glucose, insulin, cholesterol, triglycerides, tumor necrosis factor-α, plasminogen activator inhibit-1, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (p < 0.01). The abundance of valeric acids negatively correlated with insulin resistance (p < 0.05). The abundances of isobutyric acid positively correlated with Lactobacillus, but negatively correlated with Dubosiella genus bacteria (p < 0.05). The findings demonstrated that the increases in SCFAs in the feces of BRR and GBR-treated mice were associated with improvements in gut microbiome, metabolic and inflammatory profile, which may contribute to the antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects of the whole grains in HF-diet-fed mice.