Abstract
Objective: The bran layer of brown rice contains a variety of nutritional components, which have been suggested to be useful in maintaining homeostasis of body functions and improving health. However, its effect on subjective symptoms in humans is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of oral intake of a test food made from the sub-aleurone layer (part of the bran layer) of brown rice on subjective symptoms.
Methods: A total of 1,023 healthy men and women (313 men and 710 women) were included in the study group. They consumed the test food (3.5 g per package) for one month, and subjective symptoms were investigated using the Anti-Aging QOL Common (53 items in total). A total of 3,002 age- and sex-adjusted cases (930 men and 2,072 women) from the Doshisha University Anti-Aging Research Center' (AARC) data were used as the hypothetical control
Results: In the test group, the items with the highest improvement rates were (a) "constipation" (45.5%), (b) "liable to catch cold" (35.6%), (c) "lethargy" (33.7%), and (d) "skin problems" (33.3%) (p < 0.001 by χ-square test, Cramer's V > 0.2 except (b)). The prevalence of these four symptoms was significantly higher in the tset group than in the hypothetical group; after one month, the prevalence of "constipation," "susceptibility to catch cold," and "tiredness" was lower than in the control group, and the prevalence of "skin problems" decreased to the same level as in the control group. There were no dropouts in the test group and no adverse events were observed.
Conclusion: The consumption of the test food may be an effective and safe functional food for the improvement of subjective symptoms such as "constipation," "susceptibility to catching colds," "tiredness," and "skin problems".
