Dietary fibres are plant carbohydrate polymers/oligomers which are of nutritional and health interest. These carbohydrates may also influence the food quality.
Dietary fiber is defined by EU as carbohydrate polymers/oligomers with three or more sugar units, which are neither digested nor absorbed in the human small intestine and belong to the following categories:
- edible carbohydrate polymers naturally occurring in the food as consumed
- edible carbohydrate polymers which have been obtained from food raw materials by physical, enzymatic or chemical means and which have a beneficial physiological effect demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence
- edible synthetic carbohydrate polymers which have a beneficial physiological effect demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence.
These carbohydrates are mostly present in plant cell walls but other components such as resistant oligosaccharides and resistant starch are also included. Non-carbohydrate components such as lignin and other phenolic substances may be included as well.
Areas of interest
Analysis of dietary fibre content and composition in plant foods in relation to adopted definitions
Studies on fractionation, isolation, structural determinations and properties of dietary fibre polysaccharides such as fructan, arabinoxylan, β-glucan and resistant starch.
Studies on effects of cultivation conditions on dietary fibre, as well as nutritional and technological effects of dietary fibre and cell wall degrading enzymes in food and feed.
Studies on satiety and health effects of dietary fibre components and fractions and whole grain rich in dietary fibre and associated components.
Research group
Professor Per Åman
Associate professor Annica Andersson
Associate professor Roger Andersson
PhD student Hanna Isaksson
External funding
EU, SLF, Cerealia Research Foundation, Theme project industry-NL faculty (BarleyFunFood) are acknowledged for funding.
Key references
Frolich, W. and Åman, P. Whole grain for whom and why? Food Nutr. Res. (2010), 54: 5056 – Doi: 10.3402/fnr.v54i0.5056.
Nemeth, C., Freeman, J., Jones, H.D., Sparks, C., Pellny, T.K., Wilkinson, M.D., Dunwell, J., Andersson, A.A.M., Åman, P., Guillon, F., Saulnier, L., Mitchell, R.A.C. and Shewry, P.R. Down-regulation of the CSLF6 gene results in decreased (1,3;1,4)-β-D-glucan in endosperm of wheat. Plant Physiol. 152 (2010) 1209-1218.
Rakha, A., Åman, P. and Andersson, R. Characterization of dietary fibre components in rye products. Food Chem. 119 (2010) 859-867.
Isaksson, H., Fredriksson, H., Andersson, R., Olsson, J. and Åman, P. Effect of rye bread breakfasts on subjective hunger and satiety: a randomized controlled triel. Nutrition Journal. 8 (2009) 39. Doi:10.1186/1475-2891-8-39.
Andersson, A.A.M., Ruegg, N. and Åman, P. Molecular weight distribution and content of water-extractable -glucan in rye crisp bread. J. Cereal. Sci. 47 (2008) 399-406.