Cereal Chem 67:542-544   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Nutritional Properties of Coarse and Fine Sugar Beet Fiber and Hard Red Wheat Bran. II. Effects on Calcium and Iron Utilization.

C. F. Klopfenstein. Copyright 1990 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

This study compared the effects of coarse and fine dietary sugar beet fiber, cellulose, and hard red wheat bran on calcium and iron utilization in rats. At the 5% level of dietary supplementation, all of these fiber sources had similar effects on fecal ash content and percent ash loss in the feces. Losses of both fecal calcium and iron were very high in animals fed the cellulose diets. The effect of 5% wheat bran diets on fecal calcium loss was similar to that of 5% beet fiber (much lower than losses with 5% cellulose), but fecal iron loss with wheat bran diets was nearly as high as with cellulose diets. Femur calcium concentrations was lower in animals fed cellulose and wheat bran than in those fed beet fiber at the same level. Data obtained at the end of week 6 were quite different from those obtained at the end of week 3, indicating that care must be taken in drawing conclusions from short-term feeding studies. Correlation coefficients indicated that percent total fecal ash was positively correlated with both total and soluble dietary fiber, but percent fecal calcium and iron losses were not. Strong negative correlations indicated that soluble fiber might actually reduce fecal iron and calcium losses. In addition, femur calcium concentrations and relative femur weights were posibively correlated with increasing soluble dietary fiber concentrations.