EFFECT OF A HIGH-VISCOSITY SOLUBLE FIBER ON THE FOOD-INTAKE, ON THE FECAL EXCRETION AND ON THE BODY-WEIGHT, IN RATS

The proposal of this work was to evaluate the effect of a high viscosi ty soluble fiber and the cellulose (insoluble fiber) on the food intak e, on the fecal excretion and on the body weight, in rats trial. The p olysaccharides isolated with the highly viscous soluble fiber of ''Car ioca 80 SH'' bean were degraded in the rat bowel at least to the exten t of 74.2%, apparently by microbial fermentation. For the cellulose in take a degradation of about 9.0% was determined. The dietary intake, t he dry fecal weight, the excretion ratio from the intake and the fecal bulk were, respectively, up to 20.9%, 55.3%, 49.0% and 200.0% lower ( p<0.05) in rats fed with the high viscosity soluble fiber than in rats fed with cellulose at the same concentration of 3%, 6% or 9% of the f iber. The rats fed with the highly viscous fiber had difficulties to e liminate feces, especially in the higher level dietary intake of 9%, a nd their weight gains were lower (p<0.05) than rats fed with cellulose .