ABSTRACT
An important aspect of nonstarch polysaccharides and resistant starch research is therefore the fermentability by the colonic bacterial flora, in terms of both amounts escaping digestion in the small bowel, amounts actually fermented by the colonic bacteria, and pathways of carbohydrate metabolism in the colon. The H2 breath test provides a clear qualitative detection of fermentable substrates in the human colon. Fermentation of pectin, a viscous, soluble fiber, has also been studied successfully using the H2 breath test. The H2 breath test provides a semiquantitative measure of the influence of different test meals on the oro-cecal transit time and the size of the H2 response to a given fermentable marker. The H2 breath test is convenient in elucidating the human colonic microbial flora’s capacity for fermentation of different carbohydrates. In spite of improvements in the H2 breath test, discrepancies between the quantitative estimates obtained by the H2 breath test and ileal intubation techniques have been reported.
