Given the nutritional implications of dietary fiber intake, its quantitative
determination in food products is very important, but the measurement of
dietary fiber has been hampered by controversies surrounding its very definition
and the fact that dietary fiber encompasses a class of compounds
with disparate properties. There are now several methods in place that
permit the measurement of TDF and additional methods to specifically measure
those compounds (i.e., polydextrose and fructans) excluded from conventional
dietary fiber methods.