Intake of high-purity dietary fiber from Okara to prevent intestinal damage caused by acute ulcerative colitis

Abstract

High-purity insoluble dietary fiber (HPIDF) from okara has been proved to improve the colonic environment in case of acute ulcerative colitis (AUC). However, the effect of dietary fiber (DF) daily intake, on prevention and decline of AUC is not clear. In this study we investigated the effect of DF daily intake, on improving the overall colon condition during AUC, by establishing an animal model. A 21 days daily intake plan of HPIDF and low-purity dietary fiber (LPDF) from okara was used, by feeding C57BL/6 mice before induction of AUC. The AUC was induced post 21 days daily intake plan in mice through dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). The levels of inflammatory factors, the colonic internal environment (composition of microorganisms and short-chain fatty acids [SCFASs]), and bioinformatics were analyzed with the colonic tissue status. Results showed that the daily intake of HPIDF can protect against excessive colonic injury, maintain the stability of SCFASs, alleviate the inflammatory response and stabilize microbial structure when AUC occurs. Bioinformatics showed that the changes in the internal environment in the colon were mostly related to the biosynthetic process, such as amino acids, carbohydrates, cell structure, vitamins, lipids and fatty acids. This study demonstrated that daily intake of HPIDF have the potential to prevent excessive colonic injury when AUC occurs, although the hyperplasia of some non-probiotics was also accompanied by this process.