Abstract
The effect of mixed indigestive carbohydrate, socalled dietary fiber, on the gastrointestinal tract and serum components were studied in rats raised for 6 weeks on diets containing 10 or 20% of mixed fiber consisted of 43% of hemicellulose, 32% of cellulose, 14% of lignin and 11% of pectin, and compared with rats fed with diets containing 20% of cellulose or pectin. The following results were obtained.
1) The stool weight in the mixed fiber groups was increased remarkedly, and the gastrointestinal transit time was significantly shortened.
2) Mixed fiber, as well as cellulose, induced the hypertrophy of colon, but not of cecum.
3) Mixed fiber, as well as pectin or cellulose ingestion, decreased significantly the duodenal alka-line phosphatase activity, but not sucrase activity.
4) Pectin decreased the serum triacylglycerol and calcium concentrations, but mixed fiber did not affect the serum concentrations of cholesterol, triacylglycerol, calcium and inorganic phosphorus, and the liver cholesterol concentration.
