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Human Nutrition and Metabolism

The Fermentation of Different Dietary Fibers Is Associated with Fecal Clostridia Levels in Men¹

Daisuke Chinda, Shigeyuki Nakaji², Shinsaku Fukuda^*, Juichi Sakamoto^*, Tadashi Shimoyama^*, Teruo Nakamura, Tomohiko Fujisawa^**, Atsushi Terada^** and Kazuo Sugawara

Department of Hygiene, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan; ^* First Department of Internal Medicine, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan; Department of Health, Hirosaki University School of Health Sciences, Hirosaki, Japan; and ^** Department of Food Hygiene, Division of Food Science and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Animal Science University, Tokyo, Japan

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nakaji{at}cc.hirosaki-u.ac.jp.

Only a few reports have compared the fermentation of pectin and cellulose using the hydrogen-breath test, and no studies have examined the relation between the hydrogen breathing pattern and colonic microflora. Using breath-hydrogen measurements, we investigated whether different dietary fibers (DFs) were fermented differently and whether there were individual differences after ingestion of the same DF; we also examined the relation between individual fecal microflora and the fermentation of DF. Results of hydrogen tests in 14 men were compared after they had ingested 20 g of pectin, 20 g of cellulose, or 6 g of lactulose (a DF-like substance). We examined the relation between the breath hydrogen results and the subjects’ fecal microflora. We defined significant fermentation (i.e., positive cases) as a continuous rise in hydrogen in the expiratory air of >19 ppm. The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to their hydrogen breath test pattern, i.e., positive for lactulose and pectin (Group LP, n = 4); positive for lactulose alone (Group L, n = 7); and negative for pectin, cellulose, and lactulose (Group N, n = 3). Individual differences were noted in subjects from Group LP and Group L. The detection frequency of lecithinase-negative clostridia was higher in Group LP than in the other groups (P < 0.05), and the detection frequency and the number of lecithinase-positive clostridia were higher in Groups LP and L than in Group N (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the Clostridium species are associated with hydrogen production. The hydrogen breath test results of DFs depend on both the type of DF and the individual colonic microflora. The amount and constitution of colonic microflora might be predicted by the hydrogen-breath test using different DFs.

KEY WORDS: • pectin • cellulose • lactulose • microflora • Clostridium species

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