Bran fibers and satiety in women who do not exhibit restrained eating.

BACKGROUND

Foods that are high in dietary fiber can promote satiety, but previous studies report conflicting results.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to determine differences in satiety response to three conditions (10 g oat bran, 10 g barley bran and a low fiber condition) consumed at dinner and breakfast. In addition, we compared energy intake at an ad libitum lunch after consumption of the breakfast bars.

DESIGN

Randomized, double-blind crossover study.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: 42 normal weight women.

INTERVENTION

Women consumed a dinner food bar from one of the three conditions the evening before testing. On test mornings, fasted women consumed the corresponding breakfast food bar with their choice of coffee, tea or water. An ad libitum pizza lunch was served 4 hours after breakfast.

PRIMARY OUTCOMES

Visual analogue scales (VAS) were used to assess satiety at baseline, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 minutes. Energy intake was assessed by an ad libitum pizza lunch (4 hours after breakfast) and 24-hour energy intake was measured by a food diary.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Treatments were compared using the mixed-effects linear models. Outcomes are reported as mean ± SEM.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences among conditions on any of the satiety scales and no significant differences among conditions in energy consumed at lunch or over 24 hours. The fiber bars were well tolerated and no significant differences were found for gastrointestinal tolerance.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results do not support an effect of bran fibers on satiety above a low fiber control. We acknowledge results of this study may be intricately tied to the choice of a single pizza lunch, as other ad libitum meal options could have resulted in different outcomes.