Guo Wen-kui^{1, 2}, Zhao Feng^{1, 2,}

The main dietary fibers of yellow millet and oats were isolated. Results from Infrared Spectroscopy (IR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) revealed that the dietary fibers have the absorption peaks characteristic of sugar ester, and monosaccharide compositions mostly were mainly containing glucose, galactose, rhamnose and arabinose. In order to study the fermentation characteristics of dietary fibers, fresh fecal specimens extracted from healthy adults and children were used as a fermentation model of the human large intestine in vitro (anaerobic and 37°C). The concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the system was determined. The results showed that the addition of isolated dietary fibers to the fermentation system of the simulated intestinal environment increased SCFAs content in both adult and child fecal extracts. However, the yield of SCFAs in the child fecal extract fermentation system was substantially higher than that of the adults. This suggests that the model of acids produced from dietary fibers was affected by the fermentation extract sources.

intestinal flora, structural characterization, short chain fatty acids