Effects of skin pressure by clothing on digestion and orocecal transit time of food

J Physiol Anthropol Appl Human Sci. 2000 May;19(3):157-63. doi: 10.2114/jpa.19.157.

Abstract

In order to reveal the influence of clothing skin pressure on digestion of food through the gastrointestinal tract, we examined the absorption of dietary carbohydrate and orocecal transit time of a test meal by means of a breath hydrogen test on 7 healthy young women. In this experiment, we collected breath samples from the participants wearing loose-fitting experimental garment on the second day of the experiment and from the same participants but wearing an additional tight-fitting girdle on the following day for 16 hours and 9 hours, respectively. Skin pressure applied by a girdle on participant's waist, abdomen and hip region was 15.5 +/- 0.4 mmHg (mean +/- SE), 11.0 +/- 0.2 mmHg, and 13.6 +/- 0.6 mmHg, respectively, and the values were 2-3 times larger than those of the experimental garment. The hydrogen concentration vs. time curve showed that breath hydrogen levels at its peaks (15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, and 17:00 hr) on the third day of the experiment were significantly higher than those of the corresponding time on the second day (p < 0.05 at 17:00 and 15:00, p < 0.01 at 15:00, 16:00 and 16:30). Consequently, significantly pronounced breath hydrogen excretion was observed under the "pressure" clothing condition (p < 0.01). On the other hand, the transit time of the test meal for the subjects wearing a girdle did not differ significantly from that for the subjects wearing the garment of less pressure (270 +/- 18 minutes and 263 +/- 21 minutes, respectively). These results indicate that the clothing skin pressure has an inhibitory effect on the absorption of dietary carbohydrate in the small intestine, but no effect on the orocecal transit time of a meal.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breath Tests
  • Cecum / physiology*
  • Clothing*
  • Dietary Carbohydrates / metabolism
  • Digestion
  • Female
  • Food
  • Gastrointestinal Motility*
  • Humans
  • Pressure
  • Reference Values
  • Skin Physiological Phenomena*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Dietary Carbohydrates