Cereal dietary fibers affect post-prandial lipoproteins in healthy human subjects

Abstract

Normolipidemic males (six) ingested on separate days a low-fiber (2·8 g) testmeal (70 g fat, 0·75 g cholesterol), enriched or not with 10 g dietary fiber in the form of either oat bran, rice bran or wheat fiber or 4·2 g fiber as wheat germ. Fasting and post-meal blood samples were obtained for 7 h. Chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL and HDL were isolated from the baseline samples and the samples of the 2–3 h triglyceride peak. Chylomicron triglycerides were significantly ( p ≤ 0·05) reduced with wheat fiber. All fiber sources reduced chylomicron cholesterol. VLDL lipid components were not markedly changed. LDL cholesterol decreased post-prandially and this was reversed after adding oat bran and wheat germ. HDL triglycerides were unchanged but the post-prandial HDL cholesterol decrease was significantly amplified after adding oat bran and wheat germ. In conclusion, dietary fiber-rich fractions from cereals can alter post-prandial lipoproteins in humans to a variable extent.