In vitro study for investigating the impact of decreasing the molecular weight of oat bran dietary fibre components on the behaviour in small and large intestine

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the role of beta-glucan molecular weight (M-w) and the presence of other carbohydrates on the physiological functionality of oat branviaanin vitrodigestion study. A complete approach using three differentin vitrodigestion models (viscosity of the small intestine digest, reduction of bile acids and on-line measurement of gas evolution) was used to predict the physiological functionality of enzymatically modified oat bran concentrate (OBC). OBC was enzymatically treated with two beta-glucanase preparations at three different levels in order to specifically decrease beta-glucanM(w)(Pure: purified beta-glucanase) or beta-glucan and other cell wall polysaccharides (Mix: commercial food-grade cell wall degrading enzyme preparation). TheM(w)of beta-glucan in OBC was tailored to high (1000 kDa), medium (200-500 kDa) and low (