The influence of diets based on whole wheat, wheat flour and wheat bran on exocrine pancreatic secretion in pigs.

Six pigs, initially 40 kg live weight, were prepared with a duodenal pouch for collection of pancreatic juice to assess the influence of the type and amount of dietary fiber on exocrine pancreatic secretion. Four isonitrogenous diets were fed to each pig: W (whole wheat); WBS (whole wheat, wheat bran, wheat starch); WFS (whole wheat, wheat flour, wheat starch); and FC (wheat flour, wood cellulose). Wheat and wheat fractions came from the same batch of wheat. Crude fiber and dietary fiber (nonstarch polysaccharide) contents of diets W, WBS, WFS and FC (g/kg), respectively, were 40.8, 101.8; 63.7, 201.2; 20.5, 50.3; and 39.0, 60.7. Mean volumes of pancreatic juice (mL/24 h) for diets W, WBS, WFS and FC, respectively, were 4108, 4560, 2556 and 1757. Total enzymic and electrolyte concentrations were not significantly affected by diet changes, but mean protein and amylase outputs were lower for diet FC than for the others. It was concluded that the principal effect of increasing the dietary fiber content of the diets was to increase the volume of pancreatic juice and that this may have been due to noncellulosic components of the dietary fiber.