Polydextrose in Lipid Metabolism

Dietary fiber include fibers from natural sources (such as fruits, vegetables, and wholegrain cereals), fibers that are extracted or obtained by other means from food material, and synthetic carbohydrate polymers, that have been shown to possess physiological health benefits [1, 2]. Dietary fiber can be classified analytically as soluble and insoluble based on their solubility in water, but can also be characterized as viscous or non-viscous and fermentable or non-fermentable depending upon the physiological characteristics the fiber might have [2]. Insoluble dietary fiber includes cellulose, part of hemicellulose, and lignin, whereas soluble fibers include components such as pectin, some hemicelluloses, lignin, gums and mucilage [2, 3]. Whilst there have been difficulties in achieving a global definition for dietary fiber, it is now generally accepted that dietary fiber can be defined as carbohydrate polymers with a degree of polymerization of 3 or more monomeric units which are not hydrolysed in the small intestine by the endogenous enzymes [4]. As fiber is resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine, it enters the colon where it can be partially or completely fermented [5].