Coix seed helps mice to lose weight and it is associated with the regulation of the gut microbiota.

Coix seed is commonly used as food material and herbal medicine in Asian countries. Evidence showed it has hypolipidemic activity, and can decrease the level of serum lipid. But whether Coix seed takes effect by modulating the composition of the gut microbiota remains unknown. In our study, 44 mice were randomly allocated to three groups, receiving Chow, high fat, and high fat added Coix seeds diet for 5 weeks, respectively. Mice who received the high fat diet demonstrated significant increasing in body weight and fat mass compared with the Chow groups. Complementing Coix seed could help mice lose weight, and reduce the fat mass and total cholesterol. Through sequencing of the V4-V5 regions of 16S rRNA genes in fecal samples, we found the gut microbiota had a distinct change in HF diet group comparing to Chow group. Coix Seeds can regulate the abundance of serveral bacteria, which are probably contributed to losing weight and preventing diabetes.