Analysis on the intestine microbiome has triggered a ‘revolution‘ in dietary science, and in the previous few years, dietary fiber has grow to be the “new protein” – added to meals in abundance to feed our intestine and enhance our well being.
A current research on mice, nevertheless, suggests not all fiber dietary supplements are equally helpful.
A type that’s readily present in oats and barley, referred to as beta-glucan, can management blood sugar and help in weight reduction amongst mice fed a high-fat food plan.
Researchers on the College of Arizona (UA) and the College of Vienna say it’s the solely kind of fiber complement they examined that decreased a mouse’s fats content material and physique weight inside 18 weeks.
The opposite fibers thought of, together with wheat dextrin, pectin, resistant starch, and cellulose, had no such impact, regardless of shifting the make-up of the mouse microbiome considerably in comparison with mice fed no fiber dietary supplements.
“We all know that fiber is essential and helpful; the issue is that there are such a lot of several types of fiber,” explained biomedical scientist Frank Duca from UA in July.
“We wished to know what sort of fiber could be most helpful for weight reduction and enhancements in glucose homeostasis in order that we will inform the neighborhood, the patron, after which additionally inform the agricultural business.”
Dietary fibers are the main source of energy for micro organism residing in our guts, and yet less than 5 percent of individuals within the US eat the recommended 25–30 grams (0.9–1 ounce) of fiber a day.
To make up for this, fiber dietary supplements and ‘invisible fiber’-infused foods are growing in popularity. However fibers are extraordinarily numerous, so which will we select?
Some fibers, like oat beta-glucans and wheat dextrin, are water-soluble, which means they’re simply fermented by intestine micro organism. Others, like cellulose and resistant starch, are much less soluble or insoluble, which means they stick to other materials to form stool.
Till now, writes biomedical scientist Elizabeth Howard from UA and her colleagues, “there isn’t a research that has investigated the position of varied fibers in a single cohort.”
To make up for this, the present research examined a number of types of fiber in a single cohort of mice. Solely beta-glucan was discovered to extend the variety of Ileibacterium discovered within the mouse gut. Different studies on mice have linked this bacterium to weight reduction.
Certain sufficient, lengthy earlier than the 10-week marker, mice fed beta-glucan confirmed lowered physique weight and physique fats content material in comparison with mice fed different types of fiber.
The findings align with one other current study by Duca, which fed barley flour, wealthy in beta-glucan, to rodents. Although the rats continued consuming simply as a lot of their high-fat food plan as earlier than, their power expenditure elevated they usually misplaced weight anyway.
An identical final result was noticed in mice fed beta-glucan within the new research. These animals additionally confirmed elevated concentrations of butyrate of their guts, which is a metabolite made when microbes break down fiber.
Butyrate induces the discharge of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is the pure protein that artificial medicine like Ozempic mimic to stimulate insulin launch.
“A part of the advantages of consuming dietary fiber is thru the discharge of GLP-1 and different intestine peptides that regulate urge for food and physique weight,” said Duca.
“Nevertheless, we do not assume that is all the impact. We expect that there are different helpful issues that butyrate may very well be doing that aren’t intestine peptide associated, comparable to enhancing intestine barrier well being and focusing on peripheral organs just like the liver.”
Much more analysis is required earlier than these outcomes could be prolonged to people, however the findings counsel that some fibers could also be higher suited to weight reduction and insulin management than others.
The research was printed within the Journal of Nutrition.
An earlier model of this text was printed in July 2024.