[Effect of plant fibers on the lipolytic and proteolytic function of the exocrine pancreas].

Ingestion of the plant fiber guar in therapeutic dosage (20 g/d) in 20 healthy probands led to a highly significant (P less than 0.01) inhibition of lipolytic and a clearly less effective (0.05 greater than P greater than or equal to 0.01) inhibition of proteolytic exocrine pancreatic function. Plant fibers with a highly significant in-vivo inhibition of lipolytic exocrine pancreatic function such as guar gum should thus not be administered to patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and steatorrhoea. However, they should be considered as additional measures in drug treatment of hypertriglyceridaemia.