There has been increasing reports concerning several physiological responses, such as lowering of plasma cholesterol levels, modification of glycemic response, improving large bowel function, and lowering nutrients availability. According to recent evidences, most isolated fibers that are water soluble will lower plasma cholesterol in humans and animals. These include pectins, psyllium, and various gums such as guar gum, locust bean gum and modified celluloses such as carboxymethylcellulose. Consumption of fiber-rich sources containing water-soluble fibers, such as oat bran, barley (sources of β-glucan fiber), legumes, and vegetables, usually results in a lowering plasma cholesterol. In this review, I will describe two different meta-analysises and some mechanisms of these action including its effects on cholesterol synthesis rates, VLDL secretion rates, LDL turnover rates and susceptibility of LDL to oxidation.

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It is well known that the rats fed on wheat bran increase serum cholesterol levels. To make clear one of the cholesterol increasing components of wheat bran, a fraction soluble in ethanol containing some flavone derivatives was extracted from wheat bran, and we investigated the effects of dietary ethanol extract or other fractions from wheat bran, on serum components such as cholesterol, transaminase and A/G ratio in rats. Moreover, to remove cholesterol increasing factors from wheat bran, we investigated the effects of ethanol treated wheat bran and mechanically treated wheat bran on serum components in rats. Dietary addition of wheat bran, ethanol extract from wheat bran, fraction soluble in methanol and insoluble in benzene, resulted in a significant increase in serum total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) -cholesterol. The addition of ethanol treated wheat bran to the diet caused a significantly low serum cholesterol level and serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase activity as compared with the value in rats fed wheat bran diet.

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This study was performed to evaluate the effect of agar containing jelly on human bowel habits. One g of agar was added to make a cup of 120 g of jelly. As a control, jelly which was made by same method, agar in stead of gelatin was used. Twenty four healthy adults and 21 female college students ingested from 1 to 3 cups of jelly per day considering degrees of constipation. In the healthy adults group, frequency of defecation and fecal volume were increased by the agar-agar jelly (3 cups/day) ingestion compared with non-ingestion period or the control period of a cup of gelatin jelly given (p>0.01). Furthermore the agar effects which stimulates the defecation were observed in the healthy female college students. Other bowel habits (smell, hardness and shape) were also improved in the agar-ingestion period compared with the non-ingestion period. Although some subjects were recognized abdomen symptoms by the agar-excess intake (9 cups/;day), the symptoms were disappeared after a short period. These results demonstrate that the ingestion of 3 cups of agar jelly containing 1 g of agar in a day promotes thedefecation in constipated subject and improves the fecal conditions

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We studied the effects of polydextrose (PD) on fecal weight andgastrointestinal transit time by the Latinsquare method in a cross-over fasionusing 9 male beagle dogs. Animals were divided to 3 groups; control group (PD free), PD 2.5% group and PD 5.0% group and fed with each diet for 11 days withthe wash out period of 7 days . Body weight gain, food intake and water intakewere not affected by polydextrose ingestion. The fecal weight was increased significantly in PD 5.0% group in compared with that of the control group. Also, the hardness of feces was softer in the groups fed PD than in the control group. However, the gastrointestinal transit time was not affected significantly by PD ingestion. These results suggest that PD is one of the dietary fibers which improve on defecation and fecal status.

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