Bran tablets and diverticular disease

Three treatments for patients with symptomatic diverticular disease were compared in a crossover trial. Neither a high-roughage diet (HRD) nor Normacol plus an antispasmodic were as effective as bran tablets, which produced a significant increase in daily stool weight and a decrease in the intestinal transit time. An abnormal rapid electrical rhythm in colonic smooth muscle was found initially in 80% of the patients, but the incidence was reduced by each treatment after one month; it was present in only 40% of patients after treatment with bran tablets. Only bran significantly reduced a high percentage motility to within normal limits. Bran proved to be the most effective treatment, not only in improving the symptoms in patients with diverticular disease but also in returning to normal the abnormal pathophysiological changes. Bran tablets were both convenient and acceptable as well as effective.