Dietary Fiber and Resistant Starch

Abstract

Plant polysaccharides may be separated into two broad categories. Starch, a ubiquitous storage polysaccharide, is an α-linked glucan and is the major carbohydrate of dietary staples such as cereal grains and potatoes. The nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) of plants, such as cellulose, pectin, and hemicellulose, are non-α-glucan polysaccharides. The NSP tend to have a structural function and are the principal components of the plant cell wall. Recently NSP have become the objective in the measurement of dietary fiber.