Wheat bran particle size and blood fats in rats on high-fat diets
What it found
Adding wheat bran to a high-fat diet lowered weight gain, blood sugar, and blood fats in rats.
Coarser bran worked better than very fine bran.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Weight and blood sugar
A high-fat diet raised body weight and blood sugar in rats. Adding either coarse or ultra-fine wheat bran reduced both weight gain and blood sugar levels.
Blood fats and cholesterol
Both sizes of wheat bran lowered total cholesterol, triglycerides, and bad cholesterol in the blood of rats. They also raised good cholesterol levels.
Liver fat and damage markers
The high-fat diet increased fat and a damage marker called malondialdehyde in rat livers. Wheat bran of both sizes brought these levels down.
Coarse versus ultra-fine bran
When comparing the two sizes, the coarser wheat bran had the biggest effect on lowering blood fats and protecting the liver in rats.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest that ground wheat bran improves blood fat levels and protects the liver in animals.
- The authors say this might help protect people against metabolic problems and other long-term diseases.
How it was done
Wheat bran is linked to benefits for diabetes, heart disease, and gut problems. But its effects on obesity, high blood sugar, liver damage, and high blood fats were not yet clear.
Researchers fed rats a high-fat diet for 5 weeks. Some rats also got coarse wheat bran (427.55 µm) or ultra-fine wheat bran (11.63 µm). They measured body weight, blood sugar, liver health, and blood fats.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- These results come from rats on a high-fat diet. They cannot show what happens in people eating normal diets.
- A five-week animal study cannot prove that wheat bran prevents chronic diseases in humans.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Anhui Natural Sciences Foundation; Anhui Sciences and Technology Plant Project (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- Anhui Agricultural University, China
The paper
- Title
- Anti-hyperlipidemic and hepatoprotective properties of wheat bran with different particle sizes
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Junejo SA, Zhang L, Yang L, et al (2019). Anti-hyperlipidemic and hepatoprotective properties of wheat bran with different particle sizes. Journal of the science of food and agriculture. doi:10.1002/jsfa.9397PubMed 30270442DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error