The Advantages of Eating Food High in Fiber

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Most commonly eaten foods are low in dietary fibre (Slavin, 2013). Foods high in fibre include whole grain cereals, legumes, and dried fruits (Slavin, 2013). Other dietary fibre sources are over-the-counter laxatives containing fibre, fibre supplements and fibre-fortified foods (Slavin, 2013). Dietary fibre can be added to food because of its functional properties such as water binding capacity, fat binding capacity, and consistency (viscosity), texture and sensory characteristics of the end products. Another reason for fortifying foods with fibre is because most people do not consume the recommended 21-38 grams a day of total fibre for men and women over the age of 18 (Dietitians of Canada, 2014). Fadaei and Salehifar (2012) have found that dietary fibre extracted by chemical and enzymatic methods, has excellent water binding capacity and fat binding capacity which makes it useful for food application. Fadaei and Salehifar (2012) explained that the number of hydroxyl groups in the fibre structure is the main cause of water absorption, as it allows interaction of water through hydrogen bonding. The influence of this water binding capacity is important in the bakery industry as water plays an important role in gelatinization, denaturation, yeast and enzyme inactivation, flavour and color formation, all which occur during baking (Fadaei & Salehifar, 2012). Fadaei and Salehifar (2012) found that addition of dietary fibre to bread causes decreased volume of bread and increased bread firmness, which can develop products such as, fibre-rich biscuits and breads. Labesi and Tzia (2010) found that adding dietary fibre to cakes increases the viscosity of the cake batter due to water binding properties of fibre, which increases volume and crumb softness of the cake. Labesi and Tzia (2010) also found that adding dietary fibre to gluten free breads increases quality characteristics such as loaf volume, crumb firmness and crumb moisture content. Mora et al (2013) found that the addition of soluble fibre to foods affects the texture of the food product, and so the addition of fibre is used as a texturizing and stabilizing agent through gel formation. When water is added to soluble fibre, the fibre absorbs the water and forms a gel, and is useful for food products such as, frozen dairy desserts, sweet baked goods and mixes, confections and frostings, salad dressings, gelatins, puddings and fillings, hard and soft candy, chewing gum, fruit spreads, peanut spread, sweet sauces, toppings, and syrups (Milo, 2004). Soluble fibre therefore contributes to the functional property water binding capacity in food formulation.

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