Effect of wheat bran in treatment of chronic nonorganic constipation

Abstract

After a two-week basal period, 24 patients were randomly allocated to receive, with a crossover double-blind design, for two consecutive four-week periods, bran (20 g/24 hr) or placebo. The daily intake of water and dietary fibers was standardized. Symptomatology, oroanal transit time, bowel frequency, and stool weight were assessed in basal conditions and at week 4 and 8 of the treatment. Oroanal transit time decreased and bowel frequency and stool weight increased significantly during both bran and placebo administration in comparison with basal period. Bran treatment was more effective than placebo in improving bowel frequency and oroanal transit. During bran treatment oroanal transit time became normal only in patients with slow colonic transit and not in those with slow rectal transit. Neither the occurrence nor the severity of the most frequent accompanying symptoms of chronic constipation differed significantly between placebo and bran treatments.

The Treatment of Chronic Constipation in Adults A Systematic Review

“…The actual duration of chronic constipation was not given in 20 trials, was longer than 1 month in eight trials, 36,37,39,41,42,48,51,55 and was longer than 1 year in eight trials. 28,31,33,38,40,53,58,59 Thirtyseven percent of the participants were described as having fewer than three bowel movements per week, which was a stated entry criterion in 15 trials. 24,32,[35][36][37]40,43,45,48,51,[53][54][55][56]59 Specific symptoms of constipation such as straining, passing hard stools, abdominal pain, and inability to defecate when desired were used as part of the entry criteria in nine trials involving 277 persons.…”

“…24,32,33,35,38,41,42,53,59 Whether the constipation was secondary to motility dysfunction or pelvic floor dysfunction was only stated in three trials. 31,32,38 One small trial involved 10 persons with pelvic floor dysfunction, 32 and two others involved 37 persons with motility dysfunction. 31,38 Approximately 40% of trial participants were more than 60 years of age and 70% were women.…”

“…31,32,38 One small trial involved 10 persons with pelvic floor dysfunction, 32 and two others involved 37 persons with motility dysfunction. 31,38 Approximately 40% of trial participants were more than 60 years of age and 70% were women. The socioeconomic background and race were rarely given.…”

Effective Constipation Treatment Changes More Than Bowel Frequency: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Of the articles included in the analysis, 16 focused on chronic constipation, 11,[24][25][26][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] 11 enrolled patients with IBS-C, 27,43-51 with one also including patients with mixed bowel patterns. 48 One study did not differentiate IBS-C from constipation.…”

“…A study design using randomized allocation of 2 distinct groups to either an active or control intervention was used in 19 of the trials. The remaining seven publications described trials using a cross-over design 32,40 or were unblinded cohort studies. 35,[37][38][39]51 Five trials compared two active agents with each other, 27,33,35,42,52,53 with the other trials using placebos as controls (Table 1).…”