Intestinal Contents Supernatant Viscosity of Rats Fed Oat‐Based Muffins and Cereal Products

Abstract

Cereal Chem. 76(1):21-24The intestinal contents viscosities of oat-based breakfast cereals and muffins were examined. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were adapted for four days to a semipurified diet (AIN-76A). Following an overnight fast, the animals were meal-fed 5 g of either the AIN-76A diet (containing 5% cellulose), the AIN-76A diet containing 2% guar gum, whole-grain oat flour, one of five cereals (corn flakes, cooked oatmeal, uncooked oatmeal, cooked oat bran, or Cheerios), or one of two types of muffins (containing whole-grain oat flour or oatmeal). Two hours after presentation of the meal, the animals were killed, the small intestines removed, and the contents collected. The contents were centrifuged, and the viscosity values of the undiluted supernatants were determined. The supernatant viscosity from rats fed the AIN-76A diet was negligible (<5 mPa·sec), whereas that from rats fed guar gum was high (396 ± 117 mPa·sec). Of the cereals fed, corn flakes resulted in the lowest viscosity (<5 mPa·sec). However, all oat-based cereals resulted in high intestinal contents supernatant viscosity levels (cooked oatmeal 368 ± 128, uncooked oatmeal 307 ± 107, cooked oat bran 301 ± 85, Cheerios 199 ± 58, mPa·sec) with no statistically significant differences. The intestinal contents viscosity values for the whole-grain oat flour muffin and oatmeal muffin were 233 ± 52 and 111 ± 26 mPa·sec, respectively, a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). This suggests that the form of the oat within a food may influence the degree of viscosity produced within the small intestine after that food is consumed.Publication no. C-1999-0104-06R.

Comparative digestibility of energy and nutrients and fermentability of dietary fiber in eight cereal grains fed to pigs

“…28 Approximately 50% of the TDF in oats is soluble fiber, of which β-glucans is the major component. 28 The presence of soluble TDF and β-glucans in the diet increases digesta viscosity, 29 and increased viscosity in the digesta can limit the interaction between nutrients and enzymes and reduce nutrient digestion and absorption. 30 In this experiment, total starch in dehulled oats was as digestible as the starch in rice, but there was also no difference in digesta viscosity between pigs fed dehulled oats and rice.…”

Germination: a means to improve the functionality of oat

“…However, the content and properties of β-glucans are important also in malted oat products if the cholesterol lowering and other functional effects of fiber are to be maintained. Especially, the ability of oat products to develop highly viscous matrices is known to depend on the molecular weight and viscosity of β-glucans, and furthermore, this ability is known to be influenced by processing (Beer et al 1997, Zhang et al 1998, Gallaher et al 1999. Therefore, Wilhelmson et al (2001) developed a short malting process for oat aiming to retain high β-glucan content also in malted oat.…”

Cereal grains, legumes and diabetes

“…Improvements in glycaemic control were attributed largely to an increase in soluble fibre intake. A glycaemic-lowering mechanism is plausible because oat bran and oatmeal were used, products that have been found to increase the supernatant viscosity of the intestinal contents of rats (Gallaher et al, 1999). In humans, the addition of oat bran and oat gum to meals induced lower postprandial glucose and insulin responses in healthy controls and in people with T2DM compared with a wheat meal (Braaten et al, 1994).…”