Analysis on the intestine microbiome has triggered a ‘revolution’ in dietary science, and in the previous few years, dietary fiber has turn out to be the “new protein” – added to meals in abundance to feed our intestine and increase our well being.
A current examine on mice, nonetheless, 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 weight-reduction plan.
Researchers on the College of Arizona (UA) and the College of Vienna say it’s the solely sort 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 know that fiber is important and beneficial; the problem is that there are so many different types of fiber,” defined biomedical scientist Frank Duca from UA in July.
“We wanted to know what kind of fiber would be most beneficial for weight loss and improvements in glucose homeostasis so that we can inform the community, the consumer, and then also inform the agricultural industry.”
Dietary fibers are the principle supply of vitality for micro organism residing in our guts, and but lower than 5 % of individuals within the US eat the beneficial 25–30 grams (0.9–1 ounce) of fiber a day.
To make up for this, fiber dietary supplements and ‘invisible fiber’-infused meals are rising in recognition. However fibers are extraordinarily various, so which can we select?
Some fibers, like oat beta-glucans and wheat dextrin, are water-soluble, that means they’re simply fermented by intestine micro organism. Others, like cellulose and resistant starch, are much less soluble or insoluble, that means they follow different supplies to type stool.
Till now, writes biomedical scientist Elizabeth Howard from UA and her colleagues, “there is no study that has investigated the role of various fibers in one cohort.”
To make up for this, the present examine 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 research 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 examine by Duca, which fed barley flour, wealthy in beta-glucan, to rodents. Despite the fact that the rats continued consuming simply as a lot of their high-fat weight-reduction plan as earlier than, their vitality expenditure elevated and so they misplaced weight anyway.
An analogous consequence was noticed in mice fed beta-glucan within the new examine. 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 medication like Ozempic mimic to stimulate insulin launch.
“Part of the benefits of consuming dietary fiber is through the release of GLP-1 and other gut peptides that regulate appetite and body weight,” stated Duca.
“However, we don’t think that’s all of the effect. We think that there are other beneficial things that butyrate could be doing that are not gut peptide related, such as improving gut barrier health and targeting peripheral organs 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 examine was printed within the Journal of Diet.
An earlier model of this text was printed in July 2024.
