Do oat bran and wheat bran have different effects?
Wheat bran is a very good source of dietary fibre as it is not soluble in water. This gives wheat bran its main beneficial action of being a good (and cheap) laxative – because the fibre increases the mass of the stools. Wheat bran has few other actions that are considered important. Oat bran contains some insoluble fibre plus a larger amount of soluble fibre, both of which can help laxation. The soluble fibre component seems to give the oat bran its other major attraction – that of lowering cholesterol. How can oat bran lower cholesterol? It has been known for many years that oats and oat products can help to lower blood cholesterol levels in the body. This probably occurs through the increased conversion of cholesterol to bile acids in the liver. Because oat bran binds bile acids in the intestine, more bile acids are lost when oat bran is eaten, therefore more cholesterol is used to replace the bile acids. How much oat bran? Raised plasma cholesterol is a major risk factor for early
