Effect of wheat bran on fecal nutrients and bowel function in humans

Graduation date: 1980The effect of cooked wheat bran on the excretion of\ud fecal nutrients, fecal weight, and transit time was investigated\ud in 10 men, aged 20 to 35 years. The study was\ud divided into three 18-day periods. The subjects were\ud divided into two groups; one received the basal diet supplemented\ud with 15 g of AACC Certified Food Grade Wheat\ud Bran (B) during the first period, no bran (NB) in the\ud second, and B in the third. The other group received NB,\ud B and NB in that order. The basal diet supplied 6.6 g\ud neutral detergent fiber (NDF). The subjects' fat intake\ud was constant. All feces were collected; values for each\ud subject were obtained from the second and third 6-day\ud fecal composites of each period. Bran induced significantly\ud higher (p<0.0l) fecal loss of energy, nitrogen and\ud ash. In response to B and NB diets, respectively, mean fecal caloric output was 211±27 and 179±27 kcal/day; mean\ud fecal nitrogen was 2.1±0.3 and 1.9±0.3 g/day; fecal ash was\ud 5.0±0.5 and 4.3±0.5 g/day. Although the mean daily fat\ud excretion was higher on B (5.4±1.7 g) than on NB (4.5±1.3\ud g), the difference was not statistically significant. Bran\ud caused a consistent increase in fat loss only in one group\ud of subjects. Fecal NDF (determined in the last 6-day composite\ud of each period) was higher (p<0.05) on B (8.3±2.2g/\ud day) than on NB (5.1±2.6 g/day). Fecal wet weight and dry\ud solids, respectively, were higher (p<0.05 and p