Effect of sucrose polyester on fecal bile acid excretion and composition in normal men

The effects of sucrose polyester (SPE) (a nonabsorbable mixture of hex-a, hepta,- and octa-fatty acid esters of sucrose with physical properties similar to those of common dietary fats) on fecal bile acid excretion and composition were assessed in 24 healthy, nonobese, normolipemic male volunteers, in a 40-day, inpatient, metabolic balance study. Isocaloric diets provided either 800, 300, or less than 50 mg of cholesterol/day (P/S ratios respectively 0.4, 1.0, and 1.5). After diet-only perids of 10 days (for the 800 and 300 mg cholesterol regimens), and 21 days (for the 50 mg diet), the diets were continued for 30 days, with addition of SPE to diets over three successive treatment periods of 10 days each, with 8, 16, and 35 g of liquid SPE/day, or 15, 30, and 50 g SPE/day in a SPE-hydrogenated palm oil mix. On both the liquid SPE and SPE-hydrogenated palm oil mix, there were no significant changes in fecal bile acid excretion as a function of dietary SPE, at any level of cholesterol intake, P > 0.1. In most subjects SPE changed fecal bile acid composition; lithocholic acid was decreased, and in most instances this was accompanied by the appearance and increase in chenodeoxycholic acid. In one subject, both deoxycholic and 3 beta, 12 alpha-dihydroxycholanic acid were reduced, with an accompanying increase in cholic acid. The hypocholesterolemic effect of SPE appears to be mediated through its reduction of intestinal absorption of cholesterol, not through effects on bile acid excretion.