Weight gain and risk of type 2 diabetes are inversely associated with a high intake of insoluble cereal fibres. Because nutrient-induced changes of ‘satiety hormones’ from the gut may play a role in this process, we evaluated the effects of purified insoluble fibres on postprandial responses of plasma peptide YY (PYY), serum ghrelin and satiety as secondary outcome measures of a study investigating effects of cereal fibres on parameters of glucose metabolism. Fourteen healthy women were studied on six occasions in a randomized, single-blind, controlled crossover design. After 24 h run-in periods and 10 h overnight fasts, subjects ingested isoenergetic and macronutrient matched portions of control white bread or fibre-enriched bread (wheat-fibre or oat-fibre) at 08.15 hours. Gut hormones and hunger scores were measured for 300 min. Basal PYY and ghrelin concentrations were not different between the test meals (P>0·15). Postprandial responses of PYY and ghrelin were blunted after the intake of wheat-fibre (total area under the curve (AUC) PYY, 177·9 (sem 8·1) (pmol/l) min; P=0·016; ghrelin 51·0 (sem 2·5) (pmol/l) min; P=0·003), but not after oat-fibre (PYY 226·7 (sem 25·7) (pmol/l) min; P>0·15; ghrelin 46·2 (sem 1·6) (pmol/l) min; P=0·127), compared to control (PYY 247·5 (sem 25·6) (pmol/l) min; ghrelin 42·5 (sem 1·3) (pmol/l) min). Postprandial hunger scores were unaffected by the different test meals (P>0·15). Thus, oat- and wheat-fibre consumption result in different postprandial responses of PYY and ghrelin, but interestingly do not differ in satiety effects.