Guar to Feel Full -- Up to 2 Hours Extra for 1 Heaping Teaspoon

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Guar to Feel Full -- Up to 2 Hours Extra for 1 Heaping Teaspoon

The substantial benefits of guar gum for delaying gastric emptying

to achieve post-prandial satiety (after meal feeling of fullness)

have been widely proclaimed and recognized. Here are the facts.

The following peer-reviewed lab research shows exactly how large a

benefit can be obtained from guar. 620 hours of digestive recording

was taken on 12 subjects with and without 5 grams of guar gum

(approx 1 heaping tsp) at meal-time:

Liquid meal (glucose solution only):

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Digestive transit time increased by 1 hour, 16 minutes.

Solid meal (steak, kidney pie, and water)

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Digestive transit time increased by 1 hour, 49 minutes.

-- Warren

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Schonfeld J, DF, Wingate DL.

Effect of viscous fiber (guar) on postprandial motor activity in

human small bowel.

Dig Dis Sci. 1997 Aug;42(8):1613-7.

PMID: 9286225 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Both caloric value and chemical composition of a meal have been shown to

regulate postprandial small bowel motility in dog. In the same species,

duration of and contractile activity within the postprandial period

also depends on mean viscosity. It is unknown, however, whether meal

viscosity and fiber content also regulate small bowel motor activity

in man. In human volunteers, we therefore studied the effect of guar gum

on small bowel motor response to liquid and solid meals. Twenty-six

prolonged ambulatory small bowel manometry studies were performed

in 12 volunteers. A total of 620 hr of recording were analyzed visually

for phase III of the MMC and a validated computer program calculated

the incidence and amplitude of contractions after ingestion of water

(300 ml), a pure glucose drink (300 ml/330 kcal) or a solid meal

(530 kcal) with and without 5 g of guar gum. Addition of 5 g of

guar gum did not significantly delay reappearance of phase III after

ingestion of water (59 +/- 11 vs 106 +/- 21 min; P=0.09). However,

guar gum significantly prolonged duration of postprandial motility

pattern both after the glucose drink (123 +/- 19 vs 199 +/- 24 min; P<0.05)

and after the solid meal (310 +/- 92 vs 419 +/- 22 min; P=0.005).

Contractile activity during these periods was not affected by guar gum.

This was true for mean incidence of contractions after water

(1.9 +/- 0.3 vs 1.8 +/- 0.5 /min), after the glucose drink

(1.6 +/- 0.4 vs 1.7 +/- 0.3 /min) and after the solid meal

(2.4 +/- 0.4 vs 2.6 +/- 0.4 /min). Likewise, mean amplitude of contractions

was not affected by guar gum after water (22.8 +/- 1.4 vs 20.9 +/- 1.9 mm

Hg),

after the glucose drink (20.5 +/- 1.4 vs 21.3 +/- 1.2), and after the

solid meal (20.3 +/- 1.5 vs 21.5 +/- 1.6 mm Hg). Thus a guar gum-induced

increase in chyme viscosity markedly prolonged duration of postprandial

motor activity in the human small bowel. Contractile activity within

the postprandial period, however, was not affected. We suggest that

the postprandial motility pattern persisted longer after the more

viscous meals, because gastric emptying and intestinal transit were

delayed by guar gum. We conclude that it is essential to define meal

viscosity and fiber content when studying postprandial small bowel motility.