Expertise Centre CCC

Centre for Comprehensive & Complex Carbohydrate Analyses

Technical Brochure

Dietary fibre
What is it and how to measure it correctly

1. Introduction
It is generally recognised that dietary fibre is an essential dietary requirement for human beings. In our western
world the daily intake of dietary fibre is considerably less than the recommended daily intake (about 35 g). It is well
documented that dietary fibre is related to health benefits such as weight control, satiety, prevention of
constipation, stabilization of blood-glucose levels, reduction of cholesterol levels, prevention of certain types of
colonic cancer and prebiotic activity. Nowadays, the demand for healthier and less chemically modified food
ingredients and foods is becoming more and more important for the consumer. Dietary fibre has a crucial role to
play in this context.

Though dietary fibre is often associated with fruits, vegetables and grains, a range of a new-generation
industrially prepared foodstuffs with added dietary fibre are currently commercially available: e.g. bakery
products, infant formulas and baby food, pasta products, beverages, as well as feed and pet food. Many new
products are launched with claims about their dietary-fibre content and beneficial health effects. Manufacturers
enrich their products with different types of fibres like inulin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), polydextroses, and
galactooligosaccharides (GOS). Resistant starch, resistant maltodextrins and -glucans are also considered as
dietary fibre and added to food products. For those reasons, product quality control has become very important
and has led to the need to determine the amount of dietary fibre contained in products and ingredients. A correct
measurement of the dietary fibre content is important in relation to:

• Correct labelling of the product

• Decisions on granting label and health claims
• Too low dietary fibre content in a product is always accompanied with too high energy values of the
product

In this technical brochure the subdivision of dietary fibres in different categories is given, the most
frequently used analytical methods for the determination of (different categories) dietary fibre are shortly
discussed and a decision tree is presented in order to select the correct analytical method(s) for the determination
of the total dietary fibre content.
2. Dietary Fibre definition
In principle, dietary fibre is a term that refers to a group of food constituents that pass undigested through the
stomach and the small intestine and reach the large intestine virtually unchanged. It is made up of indigestible
parts of plants and is mainly composed of different types of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and lignin.
The exact definition of dietary fibre has been subject of much discussion and controversy. In 2008 the CODEX
Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Uses updated the terminology of the dietary fibre definition. The EU
adopted the definition of the CODEX Alimentarius with the remark that carbohydrate polymers in the dietary fibre
should consist of at least three or more monomeric units (2008/100/EC, annex II, October 28, 2008). As visualized
in Scheme 1, dietary fibre constituents can be subdivided in different categories depending on their molecular
weight and solubility.

Scheme 1: Dietary fibre constituents

Firstly, the high molecular weight dietary fibres (HMWDF) which can be subdivided again into soluble and insoluble
high molecular weight dietary fibres. Secondly, the resistant starch (RS): five different categories of resistant starch
are distinguished, being RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4 and RS5. Finally, there is the category of low molecular weight dietary
fibres (LMWDF): all different prebiotics belong to this group. Scheme 1 shows also typical dietary fibre
constituents that belong to each of the different DF categories.
3. Energetic value and health claims
Dietary fibres play an important role in the human nutrition. It has an energetic value of 2 kcal/g (8kJ/g).
Erroneously too low established dietary fibre contents are always accompanied by erroneously too high
(calculated) carbohydrate contents and thus with a too high energetic value of the product.

Depending on the total dietary fibre content and its specific constituents different health claims are allowed.
Depending on the DF content, products can be claimed with ‘source of fibre’ or ‘high fibre’ (EU1924/2006). Also
various health claims related to blood cholesterol, bowel function and faecal bulking are already accepted by EFSA.
For this reason it is important to measure products with the right method.

4. Analytical methods
A variety of different methods have been applied for total dietary fibre determination in food. The so called Porsky
method (AOAC 985.29) is not always the “golden method” of choice for the measurement of total dietary fibre
since, nowadays, a large number of different types of DF ingredients, which are not captured by that method, is
available on the market.
Some of the most common analytical methods for dietary fibre analysis are shortly discussed.

AOAC 985.29: classical total dietary fibre

For samples for which it is known that they don’t contain LMWDF, it is possible to perform the classical AOAC
985.29 method. However one should be aware that this test excludes, next to LMWDF, also most of resistant
starch categories. Only RS3 will be incorporated in the test result.

AOAC 991.43: total, soluble and insoluble high molecular weight dietary fibre
Similar to AOAC 985.29, the AOAC 991.43 method can be applied to samples for which it is known that no LMWDF
is present. The method provides differentiation between soluble and insoluble HMWDF (sHMWDF and iHMWDF
respectively). Similar to AOAC 985.29, this method excludes most types of the resistant starch dietary fibre. The
sum of both results is the total dietary fibre (TDF) content.

Scheme 2: Results obtained when AOAC 985.29 (left) or AOAC 991.43 (right) is performed.
AOAC 2009.01 dietary fibre analysis
In the AOAC 2009.01 analysis both the total HMWDF content, including the resistant starches and the LMWDF
content are measured and reported. The sum of both results is the total dietary fibre (TDF) content.

AOAC 2011.25 dietary fibre analysis

In the AOAC 2011.25, which is an extended AOAC 2009.01 method, differentiation between 3 categories of dietary
fibre is made: (1) insoluble high molecular weight dietary fibres (iHMWDF) including the resistant staches, (2), the
soluble high molecular weight dietary fibre (sHMWDF), and (3) the low molecular weight dietary fibres (LMWDF) or
prebiotics. The sum of all results is the total dietary fibre (TDF) content.

Scheme 3: Results obtained when AOAC 2009.01 (above) or AOAC 2011.25 (bellow) is performed.
5. Decision tree analytical methods

Eurofins has developed a decision tree that helps you in choosing the dietary fibre determination method that is
most suited to your product. The decision tree is based on what is known about the dietary fibre ingredients used
in the (food) product or material.

The AOAC 985.29 method can sometimes be used in order to obtain a “first result” always though under the
condition that the product/sample does not contain any low molecular weight dietary fibre constituents.

Some products contain by nature low molecular weight dietary fibre as non-starch oligosaccharides and/or inulins.
In case a mixture of different types of dietary fibres is present in a food sample, it is always advised to use AOAC
2009.01 (or AOAC 2011.25).

In agreement with the new (2008) definition of dietary fibre, in both the AOAC 2009.01 and the AOAC 2011.25
methods only the low molecular weight dietary fibre constituents of DP3 and higher are quantified. That means
that, for example, in contrast to the dedicated AOAC 2001.02 GOS analyses, the DP2 GOS constituents are not
quantified when the above mentioned total dietary fibre methods are applied. The same is valid for di-fructose
FOS constituents. These constituents will only be quantified by the dedicated AOAC 997.08 inulin/FOS method and
not by the AOAC 2009.01 and AOAC 2011.25 total dietary fibre methods.

Scheme 4: Decision tree for selecting the best dietary fibre determination test.
6. Tests overview
Next to the above mentioned dietary fibre tests, the Eurofins Expertise Centre CCC performs also several dedicated
analyses for specific dietary fibre and/or prebiotic constituents: e.g. (branched) -glucans from yeast, linear -
glucans from cereals (e.g. oats, barley), total resistant starch, and the different prebiotics such as inulin/FOS,
galactooligosaccharides (GOS), polydextrose (PDX) and resistant maltodextrins. For most of these tests dedicated
product information and technical brochures are available.

The following table summarizes a selection of the routinely performed dietary fibre tests as well as analyses for
specific dietary fibre determination.

Test code Component Matrix Method source

(matrix dependent)
HEC55*, HEC56 Classical total (high molecular) Solid and liquid food AOAC 985.29
dietary fibre
HEC1Q Classical insoluble & soluble (high Solid and liquid food AOAC 991.43
molecular) dietary fibre
HEC1A Total dietary fibre, high molecular Solid and liquid food AOAC 2009.01
and low molecular weight
HEC1B Total dietary fibre , soluble & Solid and liquid food AOAC 2011.25
insoluble high molecular weight,
low molecular weight
HEC1F Modified total dietary fibre, high High starch Optimized AOAC
molecular and low molecular containing food (e.g. 2009.01
weight bread, pasta,
cookies)
HEC87 Resistant starch Solid food AOAC 2002.02
HEC3D* Inulin/FOS Solid and liquid food AOAC 999.03
HEC1G Inulin/FOS Ingredient/raw AOAC 997.08
material
HEC26, HEC1H, HEC1I GOS Solid and liquid AOAC 2001.02
food, ingredients &
premixes
HEC39# Polydextrose Solid and liquid food AOAC 2000.11
Contact us Total dietary fibre for products Food AOAC 2001.03
fortified with res. maltodextrin
HEC1C, HEC2Z -glucan (cereals) Food AOAC 995.16
HEC1J -glucan (yeasts) Ingredients or In-house
products with >40% method
-glucan content
* Accredited test
#
Contact us before ordering the test due to special requirements
Your benefits
Contact the Eurofins Expertise Centre or your local Eurofins office for

 Advice concerning the analytical methods for the dietary fibre characterization of your product

 Dedicated solutions for specific problems

 Extensive portfolio with numerous carbohydrate and dietary fibre analyses

 Accurate testing results with reliable turnaround times

 A real energetic value and a declaration on your product

 Trainings and courses on dietary fibres, carbohydrate chemistry, carbohydrate analysis, starches

and a variety of related topics

Contact us
Eurofins Expertise Centre CCC
Leeuwarderstraatweg 129
8441 PK Heerenveen, The Netherlands

Mail: [email protected]
Web: www. carbohydratestesting.com
www.eurofinsfoodtesting.nl