Report of the Dietary Fiber Definition Committee to the Board of Directors of the American Association Of Cereal Chemists. Submitted January 10, 2001.

Establishing a definition for dietary fiber has historically been a balance between nutrition knowledge and analytical method capabilities. While the physiologically based definitions most widely accepted have generally been accurate in defining the dietary fiber in foods, scientists and regulators have tended, in fact, to rely on analytical procedures as the definitional basis in fact. As a result, incongruencies between theory and practice have resulted in confusion regarding the components that make up dietary fiber. In November 1998, the president of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) appointed a scientific review committee and charged it with the task of reviewing, and if necessary, updating the definition of dietary fiber. The committee was further charged with assessing the state of analytical methodology and making recommendations relevant to the updated definition. Over the course of the next year, the committee held three workshops (two of them public forums), accepting input and debate from scientists who could be present in person. In addition, an international website, available to all web users worldwide, was set up to receive comments from scientists. Results of the workshops were reported in a timely fashion in CEREAL FOODS WORLD (1–9) and on the website to assure that all interested parties were provided with additional opportunity for comment. After due deliberation, an updated definition of dietary fiber was delivered to the AACC Board of Directors for consideration and adoption. The updated definition includes the same food components as the historical working definition used for almost 30 years (a very important point, considering that most of the research of the past 30 years delineating the positive health effects of dietary fiber are based on that working definition). But the updated definition more clearly delineates the makeup of dietary fiber and its physiological functionality. As a result relatively few changes will be necessary in analytical methodology. Current methodologies, in particular AACC Approved Method of Analysis (10) 32-05 (AOAC Official Method of Analysis (11) 985.29) or AACC 32-07 (AOAC 991.43) will continue to be sufficient and used for most foods. A small number of additional methods will be necessary to quantitate the dietary fiber levels in foods containing fibers such as fructans (polymers and oligomers of fructose, inulin), modified dextrins, and/or synthetic dietary fiber analogues.

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