Comparison of two different in vivo models and an in vitro model for caloric determination of four novel fiber ingredients

Assessment of Carbohydrate Availability, Fermentability, and Food Energy Value in Humans Using Measurements of Breath Hydrogen

Measurements in humans of their breath hydrogen is sometimes used to assess the availability, fermentability, and food energy value of carbohydrates that, to an unknown extent, resists small intestinal digestion and fermentation in the large intestine. Here I outline that the method is utterly flawed and conclude that it is unsuitable for making claims as to the availability, fermentability, and food energy value of carbohydrates. More traditional methods, although more demanding of time and effort, can be used. Otherwise further development of methodology is essential to avoid undue risk of bias.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Study to Determine the Available Energy from Soluble Fiber

OBJECTIVE

Determining the available energy (caloric value) of dietary non-digestible fibers that are fermented to varying degrees by intestinal microbes and metabolized to short chain fatty acids is important for provision of accurate information to food and beverage manufacturers for reformulation and labeling purposes. The objective of this human study was to determine the available energy of soluble fiber products by measuring post consumption breath hydrogen, with inulin as a control.

METHODS

PROMITOR^® Soluble Corn Fiber 70 (SCF70) and PROMITOR^® Soluble Corn Fiber 85B (SCF85B) are Tate & Lyle dietary fiber products with 70% and 85% fiber, respectively. The fiber portion of these products is structurally representative of the fiber portion of all PROMITOR^® SCF products. The study conducted was a randomized, double-blind, crossover design. Breath hydrogen was quantified following consumption of beverages consisting of 8 oz. of water and: inulin (control), SCF70, or SCF85B at 5, 10, or 15 g (total ingredient weight, "as is"). Subjects were generally healthy men and women (N = 19), age 18 to 34 years, with body mass index (BMI) 19.3 to 24.8 kg/m². The primary outcome was incremental area under the curve over 10 h (iAUC0-10 h) for inulin, SCF70, and SCF85B at each dose. The available energy (kcal/g ingredient and kcal/g fiber) from SCF70 and SCF85B at each dose was then calculated using inulin as the reference.

RESULTS

Results demonstrated that breath hydrogen production was significantly lower following consumption of SCF70 and SCF85B compared to inulin at all consumption amounts. There were no significant differences in breath hydrogen production following consumption of SCF70 compared to SCF85B.

CONCLUSION

The available energy per gram of fiber was not significantly different between the SCF70 and SCF85B PROMITOR^® products. The available energy of the fiber portion of PROMITOR^® SCF products was determined to be 0.2 kcal/gram.

In vitro Solubility of Copper(II) Sulfate and Dicopper Chloride Trihydroxide for Pigs

This study was conducted to determine the solubility of copper (Cu) in two sources of copper(II) sulfate (CuSO₄) including monohydrate and pentahydrate and three sources of dicopper chloride trihydroxide (dCCTH) including α-form (dCCTH-α), β-form (dCCTH-β), and a mixture of α- and β-form (dCCTH-αβ) at different pH and a 3-step in vitro digestion assay for pigs. In Exp. 1, Cu sources were incubated in water-based buffers at pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.8, and 6.8 for 4 h using a shaking incubator at 39°C. The CuSO₄ sources were completely dissolved within 15 min except at pH 6.8. The solubility of Cu in dCCTH-α was greater (p<0.05) than dCCTH-β but was not different from dCCTH-αβ during 3-h incubation at pH 2.0 and during 2-h incubation at pH 3.0. At pH 4.8, there were no significant differences in solubility of Cu in dCCTH sources. Copper in dCCTH sources were non-soluble at pH 6.8. In Exp. 2, the solubility of Cu was determined during the 3-step in vitro digestion assay for pigs. All sources of Cu were completely dissolved in step 1 which simulated digestion in the stomach. In Exp. 3, the solubility of Cu in experimental diets including a control diet and diets containing 250 mg/kg of additional Cu from five Cu sources was determined during the in vitro digestion assay. The solubility of Cu in diets containing additional Cu sources were greater (p<0.05) than the control diet in step 1. In conclusion, the solubility of Cu was influenced by pH of digesta but was not different among sources based on the in vitro digestion assay.

Effects of an enzyme complex on in vitro dry matter digestibility of feed ingredients for pigs

Feed ingredients of plant origin are commonly used in swine diets. However, the major components of plant cell walls, non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs), reduce nutrient digestibility. To improve the efficiency of feed utilization, exogenous enzyme products that degrade NSPs have been widely used in commercial animal feeds. Nonetheless, the effects of exogenous enzyme addition to swine diets on nutrient digestibility have not been determined. To this end, in vitro approaches may be used. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of an enzyme complex (EC) containing xylanase, protease, and phytase on the in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility of nine feed ingredients including cereal grain energy sources (corn, wheat, and barley) and protein sources (soybean meal, rapeseed meal, palm kernel meal, cottonseed meal, copra meal, and distillers dried grains with solubles). Both in vitro ileal and total tract digestibility (IVID and IVTTD, respectively) of DM were determined for the nine test ingredients, with or without EC addition. The EC addition increased the IVID of DM in copra meal (p = 0.047) and tended to increase the IVID of DM in corn, wheat, barley, palm kernel meal, cottonseed meal, and DDGS (p < 0.10). On the other hand, no significant effect was observed in soybean meal and rapeseed meal. The IVTTD of DM in the test ingredients was not affected by the addition of EC, except for cottonseed meal (52.1 vs. 50.6%, p = 0.053). In conclusion, the effects of EC addition on in vitro DM digestibility may vary, depending on the test ingredient and method used.