Dose response to soluble fiber in barley in lowering blood lipids in hamster

Diets containing 0, 25, 50, or 75% finely ground barley (high in soluble fiber and soluble -glucans) were fed to groups of hamsters. After four weeks, serum total cholesterol (CH) levels in these animals were most elevated in the group fed the barley-free (0% barley) diet. Compared to animals eating this diet, the 25% barley diet lowered CH by 16.4%. However, the 50% barley diet lowered CH further by only 4.1% while the 75% barley diet caused virtually no further lowering of CH. Thus, the CH-lowering response to barley cannot be viewed as a dose dependent response. The lowering pattern for serum triglycerides, however, suggested a dose dependent response. Serum total-CH: high-density-lipoprotein (HDL)-CH or low-density-lipoprotein (LDL)-CH:HDL-CH ratios were not significantly affected by barley level in the diets.     

Cellulose and calcium lower the incidence of chemically-induced colon tumors in rats

In a 30-week preliminary study and a follow-up 22-week study (2 × 2 factorial), dimethylhydrazine (DMH)injections effectively induced colon tumors in Fischer-344rats. How this incidence of colon tumors might be affected by cellulose (preliminary study) or by calcium and folic acid (follow-up study) was examined. Cellulose in the dietappeared to provide some protection against DMH-induced colon tumors, but the protective effect of calcium was moreevident; normal levels of calcium (500 mg per 100 g diet), but not of folic acid (0.1 mg per 100 g diet), provided protection against colon tumors. The effect due to calciumwas observed whether viewed in terms of total number of tumors (p lt 0.01) or number of tumors per tumor-bearing rat(p < 0.01).