Get the Facts on Fibre

What is Dietary Fibre?

Dietary fibre is the part of the plants we eat that we cannot fully digest. Fibre has many benefits; we need it for good health.

A variety of definitions of fibre exist. In an attempt to develop one definition of fibre that everyone can use, the Food and Nutrition Board assembled a panel that came up with the following definitions:

* Dietary fibre consists of nondigestible carbohydrates and lignin that are intrinsic and intact in plants. This includes plant nonstarch polysaccharides (for example, cellulose, pectin, gums, hemicellulose, and fibres contained in oat and wheat bran), oligosaccharides, lignin, and some resistant starch.

* Functional fibre consists of isolated, nondigestible carbohydrates that have beneficial physiological effects in humans. This includes nondigestible plant (for example, resistant starch, pectin, and gums), chitin, chitosan, or commercially produced (for example, resistant starch, polydextrose, inulin, and indigestible dextrins) carbohydrates.

* Total fibre is the sum of dietary fibre and functional fibre. It's not important to differentiate between which forms of each of these fibres you are getting in your diet. Your total fibre is what matters.

You may also hear fibre referred to as bulk or roughage. Call it what you want, but always remember that fibre is an essential part of everyone's diet. While fibre does fall under the category of carbohydrates, in comparison, it does not provide the same number of calories, nor is it processed the way that other sources of carbohydrates are. This difference can be seen among the two categories that fibre is divided into: soluble and insoluble.

- What is insoluble and soluble fibre?
- Why do we need fibre?
- How much fibre do we need?
- Is all fibre the same?
- What is wheat bran fibre?