Effect of dietary fibre from pomelo peel on intestinal fermentation in ovariectomized rats

To study the effect of dietary fibre from pomelo peel on intestinal fermentation in ovariectomized rats. Forty SD female rats were divided into five groups.The rats in four of them were double ovariectomized and one week later assigned as model control group ( OVX- CN) , Pomelo peel raw materials group ( PP) , Pomelo peel soluble dietary fiber group ( PPSDF) and Pomelo peel insoluble dietary fiber group ( PPIDF) .The rats in the fifth group were sham-ovariectomized as sham control ( sham-CN) .All rats were sacrificed after 4 weeks of feeding to assay body weight gain, cecal tissue weight, the amount of free ammonia, short - chain fatty acids ( SCFAs) and microbe in cecum contents.The results showed that pomelo peel raw materials, soluble dietary fiber ( SDF) from pomelo peel and insoluble dietary fiber ( IDF) from pomelo peel could drastically increase the concentration of short -chain fatty acids in cecum content and the area of cecum ( p < 0.05) , decrease the pH and free ammonia of cecum contents, and increase the amount of beneficial bacteria and inhibite harmful bacteria growth in intestinal environment.Dietary fiber from pomelo peel could obviously promote the intestinal fermentation in ovariectomized rats, improving the intestinal environment.