Abstract

The alpha-glucosidase inhibitors acarbose and miglitol have been successfully used to control postprandial hyperglycaemia in diabetics. They probably work by slowing carbohydrate digestion and absorption, but their effect on mouth to caecum transit time has not been studied. The effect acarbose (100 mg), miglitol (100 mg), and placebo on mouth to caecum transit time (380 kcal breakfast with 20 g of lactulose) was investigated in 18 normal volunteers using breath hydrogen analysis. Both miglitol and acarbose significantly increased breath hydrogen excretion (F2,34 = 6.31, p = 0.005) and shortened the mouth to caecum transit time (F2,34 = 3.49, p = 0.04) after breakfast compared with placebo. There was a significant negative correlation between breath hydrogen excretion and mouth to caecum transit time suggesting that with shorter transit times significantly more carbohydrates were spilled into the colon. These results indicate that alpha-glucosidase inhibitors accelerate mouth to caecum transit time by inducing carbohydrate malabsorption.