The daily consumption of foods rich in dietary fibers is recommended to prevent several diseases and to regulate
the energy intake and satiety, which would decrease obesity. The amount of total dietary fibers of oat beverages did
not show any significant variation after bacterial fermentation and enzyme treatment. Nevertheless, the ratio between insoluble and soluble fibers decreased after fermentation, as the consequence of acidification and enzyme hydrolysis. The solubilization of arabinoxylans caused by xylanase addition might be responsible for the further increase of soluble fibers in the oat beverage. Oat β- glucans represent most of the soluble fibers in oat and their healthy effect iswell known. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the claimfor products containing these compounds
would be the following: “regular consumption of β-glucans contributes to maintenance of normal blood cholesterol concentrations”. In order to bear the claim, foods should provide at least 3 g/d of β-glucans. The protocol proposed in this study could fulfill this definition. Further, the presence of β-glucans in beverages may determine high viscosity even at low concentration. The texture of the yogurt-like beverage did not show this drawback. The fermentation by LAB fermentation caused an increase of the extractable β-glucans,while the high β- glucanase activity of the Depol 740 L preparation determined a slight decrease of the concentration of β-glucans.