Breath hydrogen and methane_ p.pdfVIP

898 Breath hydrogen and methane: poor indicators of apparent digestion of soy fiber1’2 Elizabeth A McNamara, MS, Michael D Levitt, MD, and Joanne L Slavin, PhD ABSTRACT To examine whether end-alveolar breath hydrogen and methane could be used as indicators of fiberdigestion in humans, 16 male subjects were fed four fiber-free,complete liquid diets with 0, 30 g (heat processed), 30 g, and 60 g/day soy polysaccharide. Breath hydrogen was measured hourly and breath methane every 4 h on days 6 and 8 of each study period. Feces were collected,homogenized, dried, and analyzed for neutral detergent fiber(NDF). NDF in diets was determined and apparent NDF digestibilitycalculated. NDF from soy was extensively fermented, 80%, on the fiber-containingdiets.No significant relationshipwas found between breath-gas excretion and fiberdigestion, although breath-gas values varied greatly. Breath hydrogen and methane were not significantlydifferentwhen subjects consumed dietscontaining 0, 30, or 60 g soy polysaccharide. Am J Cli,, Nuir l986;43:898-902. KEY WORDS Dietary fiber,intestinal gas, hydrogen excretion,gastrointestinaltransittime Introduction Microorganisms in the lower gut ferment dietary fiber and produce hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide gases. Some portion of these gases enter the bloodstream and are ex- creted via the lung. Marthinsen and Fleming (1) examined breath hydrogen and methane excretion of five subjects consuming various high-fiber diets and compared these values to a fiber-free formula diet. They found that hy- drogen increased throughout the day while methane remained about the same. Methane excretion was greater while subjects consumed the highly fermentable xylan and pectin diets than while they consumed less fermentable diets of cellulose and corn bran or the fiber- free diet. Hydrogen production was not sig- nificantly different on any of the diets. Ingestion of highly digestible fibers, such as xylan and pectin, increases flatus gas (2). However, flat