Fecal bile acid concentrations in a subpopulation of the wheat bran fiber colon polyp trial David S. Alberts, Janine Einspahr, Mary Krutzsch, Po Lin, Lisa Hess, David Heddens, Denise Roe, Richard Sampliner, Gerald Salen, Ashok Kumar Batta Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ. Factors which affect the concentration of bile acids (particularly deoxycholic acid) in the aqueous phase of stool (fecal water) may have a greater impact on colon carcinogenesis than those which only modify the total fecal bile acid concentration. This hypothesis was tested using stool samples of a subset of participants enrolled in a phase III colon cancer prevention trial. METHODS: Stool was collected from 68 consecutively consented participants who were enrolled in a phase III clinical trial of wheat bran fiber for the prevention of adenomatous polyps. Nineteen (27.9%) of these fecal bile acid substudy participants were from the low fiber (2.0 g/day) intervention group, whereas 49 (72.7%) were from the high fiber (13.5 g/day) intervention group for a median of 2.4 years. Sixty-four participants had both the aqueous and solid phases of stool samples analyzed for bile acid content. Bile acid concentrations, measured in ėg/ėl for fecal water and ėg/mg for dry feces, were determined for lithochilic, deoxycholic, chenodeoxycholic, cholic, ursodeoxycholic, isodeoxycholic, isoursodeoxycholic, ursocholic, 7-ketolithocholic, and 12-ketolithocholic acids. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the low and high fiber groups concerning mean or median aqueous phase concentrations of lithocholic or deoxycholic bile acids. In contrast, the median concentrations of deoxycholic acid and related secondary bile acids were significantly lower for the high fiber group in the solid phase stool (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results document that a high fiber intervention, taken for a median of 2.4 years, does not significantly reduce aqueous phase concentrations of secondary bile acids in stool, although their concentrations in solid phase stool were suppressed. Thus, the inability of the high wheat bran fiber intervention to reduce colorectal adenoma recurrence may be traced to its lack of effect on fecal aqueous phase secondary bile acid concentrations. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.