Influence of soluble dietary fibre on the faecal excretion of tocopherol and blood lipids in women

A human experiment with 9 women was carried out to measure the interrelatio nship between the intake of soluble dietary fibre and the faecal excretion of tocopherol. The volunteers consumed additionally 40 g oats bran per day after a control period without bran supplement. They collected the 24-h sto ol and urine over a 7-day period. Furthermore, blood samples were taken. Th e oats bran did not increase the daily fresh faeces weight. On the other ha nd, the faecal tocopherol excretion decreased insignificantly during the in take of oats bran. Consequently, the apparent absorption of tocopherol incr eased by 6 %. The concentration of the total cholesterol did not change, ho wever, the ratio of HDL- to LDL-cholesterol was positively influenced. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.