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Does guar gum improve post-prandial hyperglycaemia in humans by reducing small intestinal contact area?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

N. A. Blackburn
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Shefield S10 2JF
A. M. Holgate
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Shefield S10 2JF
N. W. Read
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Shefield S10 2JF
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Abstract

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1. The possibility that viscous polysaccharides, such as guar gum, could lower post-prandial blood glucose levels in part by restricting carbohydrate solutions to a smaller area of small intestine was investigated in twenty healthy human volunteers.

2. Addition of guar gum (22.5 g/l) delayed the mouth-to-caecum transit time of a hypotonic lactulose drink, but did not affect gastric emptying.

3. When a 250 ml solution containing 50 g glucose was confined to a 550 mm length of intestine by an occluding balloon attached to an intestinal tube, maximum blood glucose response was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) though only by 0.9 mmol/l.

4. Addition of guar gum (36 g/l) had no effect on the distribution of a radio-labelled glucose drink (250 ml; 200 g glucose/l) in the small intestine, monitored using a gamma camera, although it significantly delayed gastric emptying (t½ (min): guar gum v. control 115 (SE 15) v. 73 (SE 8)).

5. Reduced contact area is unlikely to be one of the mechanisms by which guar gum improves glucose tolerance.

Type
Papers of direct relevance to Clinical and Human Nutrition
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1984

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