Dietary fiber was recognized as an important food component in the mid- 1970s.
Today soluble fiber and insoluble fibers may extracted or in some cases, manufactured in laboratories and added as an ingredient to create foods that contain what is now call ‘functional fiber’. It can also be synthetically manufactured.
According to the US Institute of Medicine’s definition functional fiber ‘consists of isolated, purified non-digestible carbohydrates that have beneficial physiological effects in humans’.
Non-digestible means not digested and absorbed in the human small intestine.
Fibers identified as potential functional fibers by the Institute include:
*Isolated fiber
*B-glucan
*Psyllium
*Chitin and chitosan
*Fructooligosaccharides
*Polydextrose and polyols
*Resistant dextrins
Functional fibers are not essential nutrient therefore inadequate intakes do not result in biochemical or clinical symptoms of a deficiency.
Functional fiber can increase the total fiber content of certain food, which is turn provides health benefits.
Functional fibers performs specific, beneficial functions in the body, including decreasing food intake by providing a feeling of fullness, reducing postmeal rises in blood glucose elevsl, preventing constipation and decreasing fat and cholesterol absorption.
Functional fiber in food