Indigestible carbohydrates

Wehmeyer et al. (1969), Bower et al. (1988), and Amarteifio and Moholo (1998) reported the content of carbohydrate to be 23%, 24%, and 19%, respectively. These values have been obtained indirectly as the difference between 100% and the content of proteins, lipids, and minerals. Holse et al. (2010) found that the content of carbohydrate was dominated by total dietary fiber as it varied between 18.7% and 26.8% dm (Table 5.2). The majority of the dietary fiber is insoluble as only about 4% of the dietary fibers are soluble. Comparing the content of total dietary fiber of morama bean with the content of peanut (9% dm) and soybean (10% dm) (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2007), it appears that the morama bean has a considerably higher level of indigestible carbohydrates. Holse et al. (2010) also reported a very low starch content, which is in contrast to other legumes, in which starch is usually the most abundant carbohydrate... 

Kaolin is a naturally occurring hydrated magnesium aluminum silicate (attapulgite), and pectin is an indigestible carbohydrate derived from apples. Both appear to act as absorbents of bacterial toxins and fluid, thereby decreasing stool liquidity and number. They may be useful in acute diarrhea but are seldom used on a chronic basis. A common nonprescription preparation is Kaopectate. The usual dosage is 1.2-1.5 g after each loose bowel movement (maximum 9 g/d). Kaolin-pectin formulations are not absorbed and have no significant adverse effects except constipation. They should not be taken within 2 hours of other medications (which they may bind). 

Dietary Fiber. Dietary fiber is a broad term that encompasses the indigestible carbohydrate and carbohydrate-like components of foods that are found predominantly in plant cell walls (see Carbohydrates). It includes cellulose lignin, hemicelluloses. pentosans, gums, and pectins. 

Proximate (approximate) analysis is a scheme developed originally in 1865 by Henneberg and Stohmann of the Weende Experiment Station in Germany to analyse the main components. It is often referred to as the Weende System and has been refined over time. The system consists of determinations of water (moisture), ash, crude fat (ether extract), CP and crude fibre (CF). It attempts to separate carbohydrates into two broad classifications CF (indigestible carbohydrate) and N-free extract (NFE, or digestible carbohydrate). NFE is measured by difference rather than by direct analysis. 

Cellulose An indigestible carbohydrate that is the main structural component of all plant tissues and fibers. 

Fig. 27.10. Some indigestible carbohydrates. These compounds are components of dietary fiber.

Suppose you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Digestion of starch from the bread begins as you chew and continues in your stomach. It is completed in the small intestine, where sugars from the jelly are also converted to monosaccharides. The indigestible carbohydrates (dietary fiber) from the bread and peanut butter pass unchanged through the small and large intestines. 

The major kinds of digestible carbohydrates in foods are the simple sugars (glucose and fructose), disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, and lactose), and polysaccharides (amylose and amylopectin in starch from plants, and glycogen from meat). The indigestible carbohydrates include cellulose and its derivatives, pectin (the substance that makes jam and jelly gel), and plant gums. 

Cellulose is the main constituent of plant cell walls, where it usually occurs together with hemi-celluloses, pectin and lignin. Since cellulase enzymes are absent in the human digestive tract, cellulose, together with some other inert polysaccharides, constitute the indigestible carbohydrate of plant food (vegetables, fruits or cereals), referred to as dietary fiber. Cellulases are also absent in the digestive tract of animals, but herbivorous an-... 

Fermentation and sprouting. Various types of fermentation and sprouting alleviate much of the gas problem by breaking down the indigestible carbohydrates. 

Fiber—Plant foods that contain large amounts of indigestible carbohydrate (fiber) tend to stimulate more rapid movements of the intestine, so that the absorption of minerals and other nutrients may be reduced. Another way in which fiber may reduce mineral absorption is by enveloping certain mineral elements so that they pass into the stool with the indigestible matter. 

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