Increasing doses of fiber do not influence short-term satiety or food intake and are inconsistently linked to gut hormone levels

BACKGROUND People who eat more fiber often have a lower body weight than people who eat less fiber. The mechanism for this relationship has been explained, in part, by increased satiety, which may occur as a result of changes in appetite-suppressing gut hormone levels, and decreases in food intake at subsequent meals. OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that increasing doses of mixed fiber, consumed in muffins for breakfast, would proportionally influence satiety, gut hormone levels, and subsequent food intake. DESIGN This was a randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Healthy men (n=10) and women (n=10) with a BMI of 24+/-2 (mean+/-SEM) participated in this study. Fasting subjects consumed a muffin with 0, 4, 8, or 12 g of mixed fibers and approximately 500 kcal. Visual analog scales rated hunger and satiety for 3 h; blood was drawn to measure ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and peptide YY(3-36) (PYY(3-36)) at various intervals; and food intake was measured at an ad libitum lunch. RESULTS Responses to satiety-related questions did not differ among treatments. However, despite lack of differences in satiety, gut hormone levels differed among treatments. Ghrelin was higher after the 12 g fiber dose than after the 4 and 8 g fiber doses. GLP-1 was higher after the 0 g fiber dose than after the 12 and 4 g fiber doses, and PYY(3-36) did not differ among fiber doses. Food intake was also indistinguishable among doses. CONCLUSION Satiety, gut hormone response, and food intake did not change in a dose-dependent manner after subjects consumed 0, 4, 8, and 12 g of mixed fiber in muffins for breakfast.