Table 4.

Fibre intake, Digestive feelings ¹, Bowel function ² and General wellbeing ¹ according to Cereal Intake Group (153 participants) during the 14 day fibre intervention period. All mean values are unadjusted except where indicated.

Cereal Intake Group	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
	Scoops ≤ 2 (n = 35)	2 < Scoops ≤ 2.5 (n = 52)	2.5 < Scoops ≤ 3 (n = 29)	Scoops > 3 (n = 37)
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Critical Value 3	Significance (p-value)
Fibre Intake (g)	10.7 ± 2.13	11.9 ± 2.82	14.2 ± 2.90	19.9 ± 4.49	61.56	<0.0001
Digestive Feelings
Wind	1.24 ± 1.10	1.13 ± 0.99	1.23 ± 1.00	1.31 ± 1.05	9.43	0.0241
Adjusted Mean	1.26	1.14	1.22	1.30	3.05	0.0275
Constipation	0.47 ± 0.81	0.30 ± 0.63	0.28 ± 0.59	0.39 ± 0.71	20.26	0.0002
Indigestion	0.41 ± 0.69	0.20 ± 0.50	0.26 ± 0.57	0.25 ± 0.55	41.23	<0.0001
Bloated	0.73 ± 0.90	0.57 ± 0.81	0.52 ± 0.77	0.47 ± 0.76	26.94	0.0001
Sluggish	0.51 ± 0.78	0.43 ± 0.70	0.33 ± 0.60	0.42 ± 0.71	12.11	0.0070
Digestive discomfort	0.49 ± 0.74	0.38 ± 0.71	0.35 ± 0.68	0.37 ± 0.74	19.98	0.0002
Pain in the digestive system	0.37 ± 0.66	0.30 ± 0.64	0.21 ± 0.55	0.28 ± 0.65	21.95	<0.0001
Bowel Function
Ease of defecation	1.14 ± 0.90	1.10 ± 0.91	0.92 ± 0.83	1.06 ± 0.93	12.40	0.0061
Adjusted Mean	1.09	1.08	0.90	1.09	4.13	0.0063
Satisfaction of bowel movement	2.51 ± 1.09	2.55 ± 1.00	2.60 ± 1.09	2.47 ± 1.10	3.29	NS
Stool Type	3.48 ± 1.26	3.85 ± 1.12	3.93 ± 1.07	3.93 ± 1.05	43.82	<0.0001
Stool Quantity	0.85 ± 0.60	0.92 ± 0.60	0.90 ± 0.66	0.93 ± 0.63	5.95	NS
Adjusted Mean	0.92	0.95	1.01	0.94	1.53	NS
General Wellbeing
Mental alertness	1.90 ± 0.83	2.08 ± 0.92	2.00 ± 0.94	1.90 ± 0.83	16.53	0.0009
Adjusted Mean	1.92	2.05	2.07	1.99	3.55	0.0139
Feeling slim	1.35 ± 1.08	1.68 ± 1.11	1.57± 1.13	1.62 ± 1.08	22.33	<0.0001
Adjusted Mean	1.49	1.67	1.47	1.58	6.15	0.0004
Feeling happy	2.15 ± 0.73	2.23 ± 0.84	2.06 ± 1.00	2.28 ± 0.88	16.29	0.0010
Stress	0.84 ± 0.97	0.88 ± 0.90	0.95 ± 1.04	0.63 ± 0.77	29.75	<0.0001
Mental tiredness	0.95 ± 0.91	1.04 ± 0.90	1.02 ± 0.91	0.87 ± 0.90	12.69	0.0053
Headache	0.32 ± 0.68	0.40 ± 0.73	0.29 ± 0.66	0.27 ± 0.62	15.30	0.0016
Feeling energetic	1.77 ± 0.81	1.79 ± 0.94	1.76 ± 0.97	1.91 ± 0.90	8.91	0.0305
Adjusted Mean	1.75	1.82	1.75	1.89	3.01	0.0291
Feeling fat	0.81 ± 1.02	0.84 ± 1.00	0.82 ± 0.90	0.48 ± 0.77	53.13	<0.0001
Difficulty concentrating	0.64 ± 0.79	0.73 ± 0.83	0.83 ± 0.84	0.66 ± 0.80	15.82	0.0012
Physical tiredness	0.93 ± 0.90	1.02 ± 0.94	1.06 ± 0.98	0.91 ± 0.95	9.01	0.0292
Adjusted Mean	0.95	0.97	1.05	0.96	1.14	NS

¹ Digestive feeling and General wellbeing ratings: 0 = none, 1 = minimal, 2 = moderate, 3 = a lot/very, 4 = extreme; ² See Table 3 for bowel parameter scoring key; ³ ANOVA for fibre intake, otherwise Kruskal-Wallis (χ²) for unadjusted means, ANCOVA (F) for adjusted means, df = 3 for all parameters.