The Effectiveness of Brown Rice, Commercial Meal Replacements and Thiazolidinedione on Ratio Firmicutes/Bacteriodetes and PPARγ Expression in Obese Rats

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a global health problem that continues to increase and is closely related to gut microbiota imbalance and metabolic dysfunction. This study aims to evaluate different interventions for treating obesity in a rat model using both non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches, including brown rice, meal replacement, and Thiazolidinedione. Methods: This study was an in vivo laboratory experiment on Sprague Dawley rats with a post-test only controlled group design. A negative control group was given a standard diet, and four experimental groups were subjected to a High-Fat High-Fructose (HFHF) diet during the initial phase. Subsequently, the experimental groups would receive interventions in the form of Brown Rice (BR), Thiazolidinedione (TZD), and Meal Replacement (MR) to assess their respective effects. Results: A balanced ratio (~1 or eubiosis) indicated that the number of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in the gut microbiota was relatively equal. This study presented that the MR group had a balanced Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio compared to other intervention groups. MR group had the highest fiber content among the other groups (5.74±0.22 g, P=0.018). The addition of MR to the diet increased the fiber content in the feed, leading to a decrease in Firmicutes and an increase in Bacteroidetes. The highest PPARγ expression was observed in the TZD group (4.97±2.88, P=0.360). Conclusions: The high fiber content contributed to the balance of the F/B ratio in the MR group, while in terms of PPARγ expression, the TZD group remains the most effective due to its direct activation of PPARγ