Background: Dietary fibre consists of non-digestible forms of carbohydrate, usually as polysaccharides that originate from plant-based foods. Over recent decades, our diet within Westernised societies has changed radically from that of our hominid ancestors, with implications for our co-evolved gut microbiota. This includes increased ingestion of ultra-processed foods that are typically impoverished of dietary fibre, and associated reduction in the intake of fibre-replete plant-based foods. Over recent decades, there has been a transformation in our understanding of the health benefits of dietary fibre. Objective: To explore the current medical literature on the health benefits of dietary fibre, with a focus on overall metabolic health. Data Sources: We performed a narrative review, based on relevant articles written in English from a PubMed search, using the terms ‘dietary fibre and metabolic health’. Results: In the Western world, our diets are impoverished of fibre. Dietary fibre intake associates with overall metabolic health (through key pathways that include insulin sensitivity) and a variety of other pathologies that include cardiovascular disease, colonic health, gut motility and risk for colorectal carcinoma. Dietary fibre intake also correlates with mortality. The gut microflora functions as an important mediator of the beneficial effects of dietary fibre, including the regulation of appetite, metabolic processes and chronic inflammatory pathways. Conclusions: Multiple factors contribute to our fibre-impoverished modern diet. Given the plethora of scientific evidence that corroborate the multiple and varied health benefits of dietary fibre, and the risks associated with a diet that lacks fibre, the optimization of fibre within our diets represents an important public health strategy to improve both metabolic and overall health. If implemented successfully, this strategy would likely result in substantial future health benefits for the population.

Wheat bran is nutritionally an important source of dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals, but its negative influence on dough rheology, texture and sensory quality of bread limits its use in bread baking. The current study aimed at improving the technological functionality of bran by bioprocessing Wheat bran of different particle size (750, 400, 160, 50 μm) was fermented 8 h or 24 h with Lactobacillus brevis E95612 and Kazachstania exigua C81116 with or without addition of enzyme mixture with various carbohydrase activities. Kinetics of growth and acidification showed that the growth of the starters was enhanced in the presence of enzymes in bran having particle size of 160 and 50 μm. Fermentation was critical to improve dough stability and volume of bran enriched breads, whereas addition of enzymes had the most significant effect in improving bread shelf-life. Wheat bread containing 160 μm bran fermented 8 h with enzymes had mild flavour, the highest volume and shelf-life. Reduction of particle size increased perceived smoothness of mouthfeel but provided darker colour in bran-containing breads. The short 8 h bioprocessing, with or without enzymes did not increase pungent flavour or bitter aftertaste in comparison with the native bran. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

为研究小麦挥发成分在加工过程的形成变化，选用具有代表性的3种不同筋力小麦品种--普冰143、晋麦47、西农9817，采用顶空固相微萃取技术萃取其小麦粉、发酵面团和馒头的挥发性成分并进行气相色谱-质谱分析鉴定。结果表明：普冰143、晋麦47、西农9817小麦粉检测出23种相同的挥发性成分，分别占总量的84.01%、77.82%和82.28%，其中主要成分为萘、1-甲基-萘、(Z)-2-丁烯二酸二甲酯、1,7-二甲基-萘、2-甲基-萘；发酵面团中检测出共同成分18种，分别占总量的80.99%、71.65%和70.44%，主要成分为乙醇、萘、1-甲基-萘、丁二酸乙基甲酯、苯乙醇；馒头中检出26种相同的挥发性成分，分别占总量的80.26%、75.99%和80.43%，主要成分为萘、1-甲基-萘、2-戊烷基-呋喃、乙醇、壬醛。不同筋力小麦制品之间的挥发性成分存在差异，但大部分主要成分相同。从小麦粉到馒头的制作过程中，挥发性成分发生明显变化，其中烃类物质相对含量明显减少而醇类物质种类和相对含量均增多。