No abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between the disappearance of dietary fibre sugars and the production of individual short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). The bacterial degradation of five dietary fibres whose sugars were quantified was investigated in vitro using a human faecal inoculum. Involvement of the main fibre sugars in SCFA production was evaluated by a stepwise multiple linear regression. The results show first that the nature and chiefly the associations between the fibre sugars were key variables in the fermentability. Second, the nature and the amounts of SCFA produced were closely related to the in vitro fermentation of the main sugars available: uronic acids seemed to be principally involved in the production of acetic acid whereas the production of propionic acid could be promoted by the fermentation of glucose and, to a lesser extent, by that of xylose and arabinose. Xylose tended to have a greater impact than uronic acids and glucose on the production of butyric acid. Thus, it would be possible to predict which SCFA could be specifically produced during the fermentation of a fibre, as far as the chemical composition and structure of this fibre are known.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how guar gum viscosity acts on starch digestion and glucose absorption in humans. Six healthy subjects received a mixed diet composed of 60.4% carbohydrate in the form of maize glucose or pregelatinized starch, to which was added 5.6% low- or high-viscosity guar gums. Meals were ingested or instilled in the duodenum and postprandial insulin and glucose responses were monitored for 3 h. Infusion of meals containing glucose showed that the delay in the diffusion rate to the duodenal mucosa due to bolus viscosity was not significant. Infusion of meals containing starch showed that a decrease in the digestion rate of starch in the upper small intestine accounted for part of the effect of viscosity on glycemic response, whereas the main effect of guar gum was apparently to slow gastric emptying.