American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 40, 776-779, Copyright © 1984 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

The effects of sorghum and wheat bran on the colonic functions of healthy Sudanese subjects

SS Fedail, SE Badi and AR Musa

The effects of sorghum and wheat bran were compared and contrasted in a group of healthy Sudanese subjects. Ten medical students were studied while taking their normal diet, a diet of 20 g/day of sorghum bran and a diet of 20 g/day of wheat bran, each for 3 wk. Toward the end of each dietary period the wet stool weight, gut transit time, and frequency of bowel evacuation were estimated. The mean stool weight on normal diet was 136.6 +/- 43.1 g/day, on sorghum bran 173.3 +/- 48.4 g/day, and on wheat bran 219.1 +/- 98.3 g/day. The increase produced by wheat bran was significant, p less than 0.001. Both brans produced a similar number of bowel evacuations. The results suggest that sorghum bran, which is both cheap and readily available in the Sudan, produces a similar number of bowel evacuations to those of wheat bran without significantly affecting stool weight or transit time.