Effect of various types of dietary fibre on gastric emptying in growing pigs.

1. Five pigs initially of 40-50 kg live weight were fitted with simple gastric cannulas which permitted complete evacuation and sampling of gastric digesta once daily. 2. The effects of addition of four types of dietary fibre (wheat bran (WB; 40 g/kg), sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC; 40 g/kg), high-methoxy citrus pectin (Pe; 40 g/kg) and granulated guar gum (G; 40 g/kg] on gastric emptying of a semi-purified diet during 4 h following a meal were measured. 3. Each of the test diets and the control diet (C) were given to each pig for 1 week using a 5 x 5 Latin-square arrangement. Digesta were collected before and 0.5, 1, 2 or 4 h after feeding on the last 5 d of each week. 4. The mean gastric pH was not significantly affected by diet except 2 h after feeding (CMC higher than C) and 4 h (Pe, G and CMC higher than C). 5. Compared with diet C, the rate of gastric emptying of digesta was significantly slower for diet G, 1, 2 and 4 h after feeding, and 2 and 4 h after feeding for diet CMC. 6. The rates of gastric emptying of digesta components were not significantly reduced by dietary fibre except for dry matter (DM) (diet CMC 2 h and diet B 4 h after feeding), total nitrogen (TN) (diet G 2 h after feeding) and total glucose (diet Pe 2 h after feeding). 7. There were no significant effects of diet on trichloroacetic-acid-soluble N:TN. 8. When gastric emptying was expressed in terms of half-time (T50) values, significant increases (compared with diet C) were found for digesta (diets G and CMC), DM (diet WB) and TN (diet G). 9. The apparent viscosity of the gastric digesta was significantly higher when diets Pe, G, and CMC were given than diets C or WB. Diets Pe and CMC were very viscous in the meal before ingestion, but diet G was not; its high viscosity developed after it had reached the stomach. 10. It is concluded that although those types of dietary fibre which increased meal or gastric viscosity reduced the rate of gastric emptying of digesta, this effect was confined to the liquid phase, because DM, total glucose and TN emptying were largely unaffected. The hypothesis that a reduced rate of gastric emptying may be an important determinant of the decreased rates of glucose absorption observed when such sources of dietary fibre are eaten is not supported by the results presented.