Fibre does not induce satiety, suggests study

A recently published study calls into question whether fibre really does contribute to feelings of satiety.

Senior researcher Joanne Slavin, a dietician and professor at the University of Minnesota, studied the effects on 22 women of eating fibre-enriched chocolate bars.

Each of the women ate a different chocolate crisp bar for breakfast and in the evening: four of the bars were enriched with fibre, while the fifth was used as a control.

Each of the enriched bars included a different fibre: oligofructose, inulin, soluble corn fibre and wheat starch.

The study – which was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics – found that there was no difference in the women’s hunger, which they reported using a standard scale, at lunchtime, nor in the amount of food they consumed, which they recorded in diaries.

While short term and using a limited sample, the study confirms the findings of some other research projects into the link between dietary fibre and satiety.