International survey on dietary fiber: definition, analysis, and reference materials

An international survey was conducted to get the views of 147 professionals in the field on the definition of dietary fiber. The survey also solicited opinions on analytical methods for nutrition labeling, quality control, and nutrition research. The survey finds that dietary fiber is generally defined as polysaccharides and lignin that are not hydrolyzed by human alimentary enzymes. Support is strong for expansion of the definition to include oligosaccharides that are resistant to hydrolysis by human alimentary enzymes. Among techniques for nutrition labeling and quality control, enzymatic-gravimetric methods get the highest support. For nutrition research, more detailed methods such as gas-liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography were considered more appropriate. Respondents support labeling of total, soluble, and insoluble dietary fiber or total dietary fiber alone as sufficient for nutrition labeling of food packages. However, for nutrition research, detailed analytical methods, improvements in accuracy (i.e., closer simulation of in vitro techniques to conditions of human gastrointestinal tract), and improvements in precision and simplicity are suggested. Less than 20% of the participants use reference materials for dietary fiber analysis.