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The Relation between Composition and Properties of Dietary Fiber and Physiological Effects

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Dietary Fiber

Abstract

In this chapter I review progress toward an understanding of the relation between the composition and properties of dietary fiber and the physiological effects that are associated with its ingestion. In this context I will use the term dietary fiber for the mixture of complex polysaccharides (Southgate, 1982) and lignin in the diet derived principally from plant cell-wall structures in foods. The complex polysaccharides making up dietary fiber (Table I) are distinguished by the fact that they do not contain α-linked glucosidic polymers and are therefore not susceptible to hydrolysis by the endogenous secretions of the mammalian digestive tract.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AFRC Food Research Institute, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK

    David A. T. Southgate

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  1. David A. T. Southgate
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C, USA

    George V. Vahouny

  2. The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    David Kritchevsky

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Southgate, D.A.T. (1986). The Relation between Composition and Properties of Dietary Fiber and Physiological Effects. In: Vahouny, G.V., Kritchevsky, D. (eds) Dietary Fiber. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2111-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2111-8_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9249-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2111-8

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