Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Dietary fi bre is a group of food components which is resistant to digestive enzymes and found mainly in cereals, fruits and vegetables. Dietary fi ber and whole grains contain a unique blend of bioactive components including resistant starches, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants. Dietary fi ber which indigestible in human small intestinal, on the other hand digested completely or partially fermented in the large intestine, is examined in two groups: water-soluble and water insoluble organic compounds. Dietary fi ber can be separated into many different fractions. These fractions include arabinoxylan, inulin, pectin, bran, cellulose, β-glucan and resistant starch. Dietary fi bres compose the major component of products with low energy value that have had an increasing importance in recent years. Dietary fi bres also have technological and functional properties that can be used in the formulation of foods, as well as numerous benefi cial effects on human health. Dietary fi bre components organise functions of large intestine and have important physiological effects on glucose, lipid metabolism and mineral bioavailability. Today, dietary fi bers are known to be protective effect against certain gastrointestinal diseases, constipation, hemorrhoids, colon cancer, gastroesophageal refl ux disease, duodenal ulcer, diverticulitis, obesity, diabetes, stroke, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. In this review the physicochemical and biological properties of dietary fi bers and their important implications on human health will be investigated.