Introduction: Observational evidence is strongly suggestive that dietary fibre helps control and prevent excess weight gain, plausibly through appetite suppression and reduced energy intake. Many individuals in developing countries are not consuming recommended fibre intakes and one strategy to increase intake is to fortify foods with functional fibre.
Objective: The aim was to create four preload breads, two fortified with fibre and two non-fortified controls. A different type of fibre was used for each fortified bread and matched to a control bread. The objective was to compare the cumulative energy intake from the preload bread and subsequent ad-libitum test meal (pasta) between a fortified preload and a non-fortified preload. Two experiments were conducted, one for each fibre type used.
Design: Healthy males and females participated in this double blind, randomised crossover controlled trial. Participants consumed a preload bread with either the addition of ~10g of FibreMax™ or Kiwifruit fibre and the corresponding non-fortified control bread. Energy intake was subsequently measured during an ad-libitum meal 195minutes after consumption of the preload bread and the cumulative energy intake from both meals was calculated.
Result: The preload bread mean energy content consumed was 1641kJ for FibreMaxTM, 1418kJ for FibreMaxTM control, 1289kJ for Kiwifruit fibre and 1567kJ for Kiwifruit fibre control. The energy consumed during the pasta meal was 11557kJ after the FibreMaxTM preload, 1650kJ after the FibreMaxTM control preload, 1624kJ after the Kiwifruit fibre preload and 1696kJ after the kiwifruit control. Mean cumulative energy intake was 368kJ less after consumption of Kiwifruit fortified bread, compared to control (95%CI:-531, -163, p=0.001). Cumulative energy intake was not significantly different between FibreMaxTM preload and control (95% CI -21, 269, p=0.95).
Conclusion: Fibre was able to be fortified into bread at practical dosages and in a convenient manner. The energy intake results support the concept that fibre, including extrinsic added fibre, can reduce cumulative energy intake. However, further research is needed before a strong relationship between supplemental fibre and decreased energy consumption, weight loss or weight maintenance can be assured.
