Beneficial short-term effects of unprocessed wheat bran on lipid and glucose metabolism in man

Supplementation of the normal diets of seven healthy 18-22-year old male and female volunteers with 0.15 g unprocessed wheat bran/kg body weight/d for 6 weeks increased fibre consumption by 35 per cent without noticeably affecting the intake of other major nutrients. Fasting concentrations of plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose were unchanged by wheat bran supplementation, whereas HDL-cholesterol was increased and LDL-cholesterol decreased by 46 per cent and 25 per cent respectively after 6 weeks. Glycosylated haemoglobin was decreased by 18 per cent, 27 per cent and 45 per cent after 2, 4 and 6 weeks. The results illustrate the potential value of consuming relatively small amounts of unprocessed wheat bran for the promotion of health and treatment of certain metabolic diseases in man.