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Composition of faeces from human subjects consuming diets based on conventional foods containing different kinds and amounts of dietary fibre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Elisabet Forsum ,
Cecilia Eriksson ,
Helen Göranzon  and
Annica Sohlström
Elisabet Forsum
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Nutrition, Huddinge Hospital, F69, Karolinska Institute, S-141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
Cecilia Eriksson
Affiliation:
Institute of Nutrition, University of Uppsala, Box 551, S-751 22 Uppsala, Sweden
Helen Göranzon
Affiliation:
Institute of Nutrition, University of Uppsala, Box 551, S-751 22 Uppsala, Sweden
Annica Sohlström
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Nutrition, Huddinge Hospital, F69, Karolinska Institute, S-141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
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Abstract

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The stool-bulking effect of dietary fibre (DF) is well-documented and believed to be important in the postulated beneficial effect of DF on human health. The aim of the present study was to investigate the digestibility of DF in relation to its stool-bulking properties and to study possible mechanisms for this effect. Four diets, based on conventional foods only, were studied in balance experiments on human subjects. Diet A contained DF mainly from whole-grain cereals while diets B1 and B2 contained DF mainly from pulses, vegetables and fruit. Diet C was a low-fibre diet. Faeces was fractionated into four fractions, each enriched in one of the following three components: undigested DF (fractions 1 + 2), faecal bacteria (fraction 3) and soluble components (fraction 4). The digestibility of DF in diets A, B1 and B2 was 0.62, 0.88 and 0.90 respectively. Subjects consuming diet A excreted slightly more fraction 3 than subjects consuming the other diets. Thus, the statement that DF of high digestibility stimulates microbial growth in the gut was not supported. The water-holding capacity of fraction 1 was studied in vitro and was found to be low. It is suggested that undigested soluble DF is important in the stool-bulking properties of DF.

Keywords

BacteriaDietary fibreFaecal composition
Type
Dietary Fibre
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , July 1990 , pp. 171 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1990

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