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Short-term digestive tolerance of different doses of NUTRIOSE®FB, a food dextrin, in adult men

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 58, pages 1046–1055 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To determine the tolerance of increasing dosages of an incompletely hydrolysed and/or incompletely absorbed food dextrin coming from wheat starch, NUTRIOSE®FB, at daily levels of 10 and 15 g up to 60 and 80 g, respectively.

Design: A randomized, double-blind, multiple dose, placebo-controlled, combined crossover and parallel trial.

Setting: The metabolic ward of TNO Nutrition and Food Research.

Subjects: A total of 20 healthy men (age 31.7±9.1 y; BMI 24.5±2.9 kg/m2).

Intervention: One group of 10 subjects consumed on top of their diet 10, 30 and 60 g of NUTRIOSE®FB or maltodextrin (placebo) daily. The other group of 10 subjects consumed 15, 45 and 80 g daily. Each dose was consumed for 7 days.

Results: Compared with placebo, flatulence occurred more frequently over the last 6 days on 30, 60 or 80 g/day of NUTRIOSE®FB (P<0.05). During the last 24 h, that is, days 6–7, of 60 and 80 g/day of NUTRIOSE®FB, the frequency of flatulence was even higher (P<0.05). During the last 24 h on a daily dose of 60 g NUTRIOSE®FB, the frequency of defecation decreased (P<0.05). Bloating occurred more often during the last 24 h on 80 g/day of NUTRIOSE®FB (P<0.05). None of the doses of NUTRIOSE®FB resulted in diarrhoea. Compared to baseline levels, breath H2 excretion, which was only measured after a week with 10 and 15 g of NUTRIOSE®FB daily, increased (P<0.05). However, no difference in area under the curve was found.

Conclusions: NUTRIOSE®FB is a fermentable carbohydrate and is well tolerated up to a dose of 45 g daily. Higher daily dosages (60 and 80 g) may result in flatulence, but does not result in diarrhoea.

Sponsorship: TNO Nutrition and Food Research was assigned by Roquette Frères to perform the study.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to I van den Assum-Ziel, HAM Brants, EJ Brink, J Catsburg, AMJ van Erp-Baart, HJ Fick-Brinkhorst, JAM Jacobs, M Jansen-van der Vliet, J Koerselman, AG Kruizinga, JM Leezer-de Hoog, FW Sieling, N Stam and MN Straatman for the assistance in the metabolic ward. We are grateful to M-F Mathey of Wageningen University for her contribution to the questionnaire on food habits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Physiology, TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, The Netherlands

    E G H M van den Heuvel, W J Pasman, M Bakker & A F M Kardinaal

  2. Toxicology and Nutrition Department, ROQUETTE Frères, Lestrem Cedex, France

    D Wils & M-H Saniez

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  1. E G H M van den Heuvel
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Contributions

Guarantor: WJ Pasman.

Contributors: EGHMH, DW, M-HS and AFMK designed and supervised the experiments. EGHMH wrote the first version of the manuscript. MB performed the statistics. WJP finalized the manuscript.

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Correspondence to W J Pasman.

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van den Heuvel, E., Wils, D., Pasman, W. et al. Short-term digestive tolerance of different doses of NUTRIOSE®FB, a food dextrin, in adult men. Eur J Clin Nutr 58, 1046–1055 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601930

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