The effect of cereal cakes containing aninner-layer fraction of barley bran on defecation habits in healthyyoung female volunteers was estimated by two kinds of interventionstudies. In the studies, the barley bran cereal and two placebocereals, I and 2, were used.
In the first intervention study, fifty healthy subjects weredivided into the two groups of 25 each: the constipation group andnon-constipation group, and were given the barley brancereal(dietary fiber(DF) 3.91g) and placebo cereal 2(DF 0.80g) fora week in a cross-over manner. The daily intakes of DF in thebarley bran cereal diet and the placebo cereal diet were 1 1.3g and8.9g in the constipation group and those values were 1 1 .4g and8.0g in the non-constipation group, respectively. Irrespective ofconstipation or non-constipation, the frequency of defecation andthe fecal volume in the barley bran cereal group were significantlyincreased compared with those in the placebo group.
On the other hand, the second intervention study was performedmainly to clarify the effect of barley bran cereal on the fecalcomponents. The subjects of 6 healthy females with non-constipationtendency were given the barley bran cereal or placebo cereal 1(DF0.11g) and 2 with a completely randomized cross-over manner. Theyreceived the diets of cycle menu containing DF 8.1:!:1.6g/dayaccording to their usual diets. The results showed that the averagefecal volume and other parameters were not significantly differentamong the placebo cereals I , 2 and the barley bran cereal, becauseof small number of subject and a large individual variation.
Although the correspondent result was not obtained in the twokinds of intervention studies, the first intervention study suggestthat the ingestion of barley bran cereal to healthy young femaleswith constipation tendency does improve effectively theirdefecation habits by preventing constipation.
Key words: barley bran, cereal cakes, dietary fiber, constipation,young female volunteers. |
