SUSTAINED POSTINGESTIVE ACTION OF DIETARY FIBER - EFFECTS OF A SUGAR-BEET-FIBER-SUPPLEMENTED BREAKFAST ON SATIETY

Eighteen non-obese male and female subjects attended the Human Appetite Research Unit on two separate occasions in order to consume a control or a fibre-supplemented breakfast. Each breakfast consisted of orange juice, milk, grilled tomato, butter, jam, breakfast cereal, bread, crispbread and English sausages and was served with a hot beverage. The latter four foods were prepared with and without the addition of sugar-beet fibre which generated an additional non-starch polysaccharide content of 29 g. Following consumption of these breakfasts, subjects recorded their perceived level of hunger on an hourly basis using 100-mm visual analogue scales. Direct assessment of motivation to eat was made by the administration of an ad libitum test lunch (4 1/2 h after breakfast). Further food intake was recorded by the subjects in a food diary for 36 hours. At the ad libitum test lunch a 14% lower energy intake was observed following the high-fibre breakfast (4345 vs. 4178 kJ, t=2.59 17 d.f., P <0.01). Following the ad libitum lunch meal the difference in energy intake, as recorded in the food diaries after the two breakfasts was sustained. These data clearly suggest that sugar-beet fibre has a potent action upon satiety and merits further investigation with regard to its use in the treatment and/or prevention of obesity. The study indicates that the prolongation of satiety by fibre observed in our previous studies is not limited to foods naturally high in fibre but can also be a function of foods into which fibre has been incorporated. The results demonstrate that one high-fibre meal can exert effects upon appetite which are sustained for many hours.