Seasonal variation in the amount of dietary carbohydrate not absorbed from the intestine after breakfast in elderly Japanese females.
It was previously shown that there is seasonality in the amount of dietary carbohydrate not absorbed from the intestine after breakfast, the amount of carbohydrate in winter being significantly larger than that in autumn in young Japanese subjects. In order to investigate this phenomenon further, the experiment was repeated on 22 elderly Japanese female subjects (61-78 yrs of age) during the four seasons of the year. The amount of unabsorbed dietary carbohydrate by the breath hydrogen test, which measures the amount of hydrogen in exhaled air, was then estimated. A 6 g solution of lactosucrose, an indigestible trisaccharide, was used for comparison. Two groups of subjects, 16 subjects in Osaka and 6 subjects in Nagano, were studied in the summer (July to August) and autumn (October to November) of 2005 and the winter (January to February) and spring (April to May) of 2006. The following results were found using the pooled data of the total of 22 subjects. With regard to the amount of breath hydrogen excretion of the lactosucrose solution, there was no significant difference between the four seasons. There was a significant seasonal change in the efficiency of dietary carbohydrate absorption from the intestine after breakfast. The percentage of total carbohydrate that was not absorbed was lowest in the spring and highest in the winter. A comparison of the results from studies on the elderly and young subjects revealed the percentage of total carbohydrate that was not absorbed in the elderly was significantly lower than in the young in the winter, spring, and summer. These results indicate that there is seasonal variation in the efficiency of dietary carbohydrate absorption from the intestine among elderly female Japanese subjects as well as young female Japanese subjects. They also suggest that the efficiency of dietary carbohydrate absorption from the intestine after breakfast is retained in these naturally active and healthy elderly subjects.
Tsumura
Yuki
Y
Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan.
Hirota
Naoko
N
Tokura
Hiromi
H
Rutkowska
Danuta
D
Sone
Yoshiaki
Y
D000368:Aged; D001944:Breath Tests; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007564:Japan; D008875:Middle Aged; D012621:Seasons
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates