Background: A high intake of dietary fibre has been suggested to support the regulation of energy intake and satiety, which could contribute favourably to the increasing obesity problem.
Aim of the study: To investigate the effects of three fibres differing in chemical and physical properties on perceived satiety and hunger-related attributes.
Methods: A total of 19 healthy volunteers, age 18-30, mean BMI 23.2 kg/m(2) participated in the study. Measurement of food and satiety-related perceptions with ten attributes was performed by using 10-unit graphic intensity scales during a 120 min period after the ingestion the sample. The attributes evaluated were satiety, hunger (unipolar and bipolar scale), appetite, fullness, desire to eat something/sweet/savoury/the sample food and thirst. The sample foods used were a beverage without fibre, a guar gum beverage, a wheat bran beverage, an oat beta-glucan beverage and wheat bread was used as the control. The fibre content of the samples was 0 g (beverage without fibre), 2.4 g (wheat bread), 7.8 g (guar gum) or 10.5 g (wheat bran and oat beta-glucan beverage) per 400 g/1,000 kJ portion.
Results: The area under curve (AUC) for perceived satiety was higher (169 vs. 83 cm min; t test P = 0.026) and the desire to eat was lower (AUC -179 vs. -83 cm min; t test P = 0.008) for the guar gum beverage as compared to the beverage without fibre. Also the beverage with oat beta-glucan increased fullness and showed a trend of increasing perceived satiety and decreasing the desire to eat more than the beverage without fibre.
Conclusions: Our results support the idea that dietary fibre in beverages can enhance their perceived satiety and decrease the desire to eat more than a beverage without fibre.