Jean-Luc Barry

Estimation of the fermentability of dietary fibre in vitro : a European interlaboratory study

Five European laboratories tested a simple in vitro batch system for dietary fibre fermentation studies. The inoculum was composed of fresh human faeces mixed with a carbonate-phosphate buffer complex supplemented with trace elements and urea. Five dietary fibre sources (cellulose, sugarbeet fibre, soyabean fibre, maize bran and pectin) were used by each laboratory on three occasions to determine pH, residual non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and short-chain fatty acid production during fermentation. Cellulose and maize bran degradabilities were very low (7.2(SE 10.8) and 6.2 (SE 9.1)% respectively after 24 h), whereas pectin and soyabean fibre were highly degraded (97.4 (SE 4.4) and 91.1 (SE 3.4)% respectively after 24 h). Sugarbeet fibre exhibited an intermediate level of degradability (59.5 (SE 14.9)%). Short-chain fatty acid production was closely related to NSP degradation (r 0.99). Although each variable was ranked similarly by all laboratories, some differences occurred with respect to absolute values. However, the adaptation of donors to the experimental substrates was not an influential factor. Interlaboratory differences could be reduced either by adding less substrate during incubations or using less-diluted inocula. In vitro fermentations with inocula made from human faeces and from rat caecal contents gave similar results. There was a close correspondence between the data obtained in the present experiment and those previously published in in vivo studies in the rat using the same fibres. The in vitro batch system tested during the present study provides a rapid means of obtaining quantitative estimates of the fermentation and the estimation of the energy content of new sources of dietary fibre.

Physical and chemical transformations of cereal food during oral digestion in human subjects

Chemical and physical transformations of solid food begin in the mouth, but the oral phase of digestion has rarely been studied. In the present study, twelve healthy volunteers masticated mouthfuls of either bread or spaghetti for a physiologically-determined time, and the levels of particle degradation and starch digestion before swallowing were compared for each food. The amounts of saliva moistening bread and spaghetti before swallowing were, respectively, 220 (SEM 12) v. 39 (SEM 6) g/kg fresh matter. Particle size reduction also differed since bread particles were highly degraded, showing a loss of structure, whereas spaghetti retained its physical structure, with rough and incomplete reduction of particle size. Starch hydrolysis was twice as high for bread as for spaghetti, mainly because of the release of high-molecular-mass alpha-glucans. The production of oligosaccharides was similar after mastication of the two foods, respectively 125 (SEM 8) and 92 (SEM 7) g/kg total starch. Starch hydrolysis, which clearly began in the mouth, depended on the initial structure of the food, as in the breakdown of solid food. These significant physical and chemical degradations of solid foods during oral digestion may influence the entire digestive process.

Sugar composition of dietary fibre and short-chain fatty acid production during in vitro fermentation by human bacteria

The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between the disappearance of dietary fibre sugars and the production of individual short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). The bacterial degradation of five dietary fibres whose sugars were quantified was investigated in vitro using a human faecal inoculum. Involvement of the main fibre sugars in SCFA production was evaluated by a stepwise multiple linear regression. The results show first that the nature and chiefly the associations between the fibre sugars were key variables in the fermentability. Second, the nature and the amounts of SCFA produced were closely related to the in vitro fermentation of the main sugars available: uronic acids seemed to be principally involved in the production of acetic acid whereas the production of propionic acid could be promoted by the fermentation of glucose and, to a lesser extent, by that of xylose and arabinose. Xylose tended to have a greater impact than uronic acids and glucose on the production of butyric acid. Thus, it would be possible to predict which SCFA could be specifically produced during the fermentation of a fibre, as far as the chemical composition and structure of this fibre are known.

In vitro fermentation by human faecal bacteria of total and purified dietary fibres from brown seaweeds

The in vitro degradation of dietary fibre from three brown seaweeds (Himanthalia elongata, Laminaria digitata and Undaria pinnatifida) was studied, using human faecal flora. Two sets of fibre were tested: (1) total algal fibres extracted from the whole algae, mainly composed of alginates, and (2) purified fibres (sulphated fucans, Na-alginates and laminarans) representative of those contained in the whole brown algae. Mannuronate, one algal component, was also investigated. Substrate disappearance and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production were monitored after 6, 12 and 24 h fermentation. Gas production was followed hourly during the first 9 h and then at 12 and 24 h. Sugarbeet fibre was used as a fermentation reference substrate. According to the fermentative indices used, most of each of the total algal fibres disappeared after 24 h (range 60-76%) but, unlike the reference substrate, they were not completely metabolized to SCFA (range 47-62%). Among the purified algal fibres, disappearance of laminarans was approximately 90% and metabolism to SCFA was approximately 85% in close agreement with the fermentation pattern of reference fibres. Sulphated fucans were not degraded. Na-alginates exhibited a fermentation pattern quite similar to those of the whole algal fibres with a more pronounced discrepancy between disappearance and production of SCFA: disappearance was approximately 83% but metabolism was only approximately 57%. Mannuronate was slowly fermented but its metabolism corresponded to its disappearance from the fermentative medium. Thus, the characteristic fermentation pattern of the total fibres from the three brown algae investigated was attributed to the peculiar fermentation of alginates, and mannuronate was shown not to be directly involved.

Viscous soluble dietary fibers alter emulsification and lipolysis of triacylglycerols in duodenal medium in vitro

Abstract The present in vitro study was designed to test the hypothesis that soluble dietary fibers can alter the process of lipid emulsification, and possibly, subsequent triglyceride lipolysis. Three guar gums, two pectins, and gum arabic were dissolved in reconstituted duodenal medium in the range 0.3 to 2.0% ( w v ). Viscosities of solutions were measured. Emulsification of a lipid mixture (triolein/phospholipids/cholesterol) was performed under mild conditions in the presence of increasing concentrations of soluble fibers. The amount of emulsifled lipids was reduced and the size of emulsified droplets was increased by raising the concentration of viscous fibers only. The extent of emulsification (r = −0.79), the droplet size (r = 0.88), and the overall droplet surface area (r = −0.59) were strongly correlated to the medium viscosity in the range 0–20 mPa.s. Addition of solutions of viscous fibers to a preformed standard emulsion did not change the lag time and initial velocity of pancreatic lipase reaction. Conversely, when incubating emulsions prepared in the presence of fibers (with different droplet sizes) with excess enzyme for 2 hours, the high- and medium-viscosity guar gums significantly reduced the extent of triglyceride lipolysis only. Thus, reducing emulsification of dietary lipids is a mechanisms by which soluble viscous fibers can alter lipid assimilation.

Human Colonic Bacterial Degradability of Dietary Fibres from Sea-Lettuce (Ulva sp)

Sea-lettuce (Ulva sp) is one of the commonly consumed seaweeds which contains 16·5% of water-soluble and 13·3% insoluble dietary fibres. Since physiological effects of fibres are partly related to their colonic bacteria fermentability, Ulva sp and its constitutive soluble and insoluble fibres were incubated with faecal bacteria in an in vitro batch fermenter system. After 24 h of incubation, 32·0±0·4%, 25·9±0·4% and 50·9±7·4% of Ulva, soluble and insoluble fibres constitutive sugars, respectively, were degraded. Consequently, Ulva and its soluble fibre, ulvan, are poorly fermented by colonic bacteria. The constitutive sugars, rhamnose and glucuronate and the aldobiouronate β-D-glucuronosyluronate-(1,4)-L-rhamnose of the glucuronoxylorhamnan sulphate present in the soluble fibre are highly fermented. Chemical desulphation and/or carboxyl group reduction did not modify this fermentation behaviour. Thus, the particular chemical structure of ulvan is responsible for the resistance of this polysaccharide and of Ulva to colonic bacterial fermentation. As a physiological consequence of this particular behaviour, consumption of dietary fibres from sea-lettuce could be expected to act mainly as bulking agents with little effect on nutrient metabolism due to colonic bacterial fermentation products (short-chain fatty acids).

Factors limiting the biodegradation of Ulva sp cell-wall polysaccharides

The dietary fibres of the seaweed Ulva sp (sea-lettuce) consist of water-soluble ulvan, alkali-soluble β(1,4)-D-glucuronan and β(1,4)-D-glucoxylan, and an insoluble α-cellulose containing xylose residues. They are poorly degraded by human colonic bacteria particularly when associated within the intact plant cell wall. In order to better understand this resistance to microbial attack, their organisation in the cell-wall has been investigated by light and electron microscopy after sequential chemical extractions. Their susceptibility to enzymatic degradation and their accessibility to bacteria and enzyme were also studied. Microscopic localisation in native and sequentially extracted Ulva sp demonstrated that ulvan is in all the cell-walls of the algae and particularly between the two cell layers constituting the thallus. Glucuronan is close to the cytoplasmic membrane facing the outside of the seaweed and between adjacent cells. The xylose and glucose containing polysaccharides form packed layers surrounding the cells. A model of the spatial distribution of the different polysaccharides within the algae is proposed. Ulvan and glucuronan did not limit the xyloglucan and α-cellulose degradation by an endo-xylanase in the whole seaweed and its insoluble dietary fibre but the α-cellulose was not affected by a cellulase. The cell-wall of Ulva sp was accessible to enzymes but poorly to bacteria as assessed from porosity measurements. These results established that the poor fermentation of sea-lettuce by human colonic flora is primarily due to the ubiquitous presence of the degradation-resistant ulvan in the cell wall of Ulva sp. ©1997 SCI

Dietary fibre effects on intestinal transit in man: involvement of their physicochemical and fermentative properties

In order to study the mechanism of the dietary fibre action on the intestinal transit in man, the chemical nature together with the physicochemical and in vitro fermentative properties of five fibres were evaluated and then related to the effects of the latter on the orocaecal transit time (OCTT) and the orofaecal transit time (OFTT) in healthy volunteers. The results showed that the fibre water-binding capacity might be involved in the OCTT and an increase was observed with a fibre-supplemented diet. The fibres, which were capable of decreasing the OFTT, could act by a mechanical effect if they were not fermented in vitro. However, the partly degradable fibres might also change the OFTT via their products of fermentation. A large production of propionic and butyric acids, in particular, could be responsible for the effects of some fibres on the intestinal transit.

Supplementation of pig diet with algal fibre changes the chemical and physicochemical characteristics of digesta.

Seaweed extracts, because of their physicochemical characteristics and potential nutritional value, could provide a new source of dietary fibre. This study investigated changes in seaweed fibres (physicochemical and fermentative properties) in different digestive sites and their effects on digesta (viscosity and hydration properties). Sixteen pigs were adapted to a test diet supplemented with 5% algal fibre (either Palmaria palmata (PP), a poorly viscous soluble xylan; or Eucheuma cottonii (EC), a partly insoluble carrageenan; or Laminaria digitata (LD), a highly viscous soluble alginate) or 5% cellulose (reference fibre). PP did not modify the characteristics of digesta and was fermented in the caecum (pH 6.1 ± 0.4; short-chain fatty acids measured in digesta, 1409 ± 691 µmol g−1 dry matter). EC and LD were mainly insoluble in the stomach, becoming soluble in the intestine; EC was slightly fermented in the colon, giving a low concentration of short-chain fatty acids (303 ± 122 µmol g−1 dry matter). Supplementation of the diet with alginate (LD) increased 3.5-fold the ileal viscosity of digesta and their hydration capacity in the ileum and colon. Thus the physicochemical properties of pig digesta largely depend on the physicochemical properties of the ingested seaweed fibre, the pH and ionic conditions prevailing in the gut, and their fermentability. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry

Textural Images Analysis of Pasta Protein Networks to Determine Influence of Technological Processes

ABSTRACT The structure of pasta is largely governed by the presence of a structured protein network. This work analyzed the protein network textures of various cooked pasta products through textural image analysis. Six different pasta types were investigated: reference pasta made from durum semolina; pasta enriched with gluten proteins from soft wheat flour at 10 and 20%; autoclaved pasta; soft wheat flour pasta; and pasta made from reconstituted flour fractions. Pasta samples were sectioned, and each crosssection consisted of three distinct zones (central, intermediate, and external) based on the state of swelling of starch granules for each pasta product. Digital images of the protein network in each zone were acquired using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Textural image analysis was then performed. Similarities and differences in protein network texture were assessed by principal component, stepwise discriminant, and variance analyses. With the exception of autoclaved pasta, protein network structu...