Total, insoluble and soluble dietary fiber contents of Indian fruits

This work provides new data on total (TDF), insoluble (IDF) and soluble (SDF) dietary fiber contents of Indian fruits, which play an important role in human nutrition. Twenty-five common fruits and nine mango varieties were analyzed for their TDF, IDF and SDF contents by enzymatic and gravimetric method of AOAC. Among the fruits, the TDF and IDF contents ranged between 0.6 and 0.3 g% in watermelon and 10.9 and 9.1 g% in sapota, respectively. The SDF content ranged from 0.3 g% in watermelon to 2.4 g% in fig. The SDF as percentage of TDF was low in pear (7.0%) and high in sweet lime (51.8%), but in general, the majority of the fruits had 30%. In mango varieties the TDF and IDF contents were low in panchadarakalasa. (1.3 and 0.5g%) and high in banganapalli (3.0 and 1.5g%), respectively. The SDF content was low in dashehari (0.7 g%) and high in eruman (1.6 g%). The SDF as % TDF ranged between 46.9% in dashehari and 61.5% in panchadarakalasa, but most of the mango varieties had around 50% of their TDF as SDF. Results indicate that fruits such as fig, mango, orange, papaya and sweet lime are rich sources of SDF, the component of TDF associated with a number of health benefits. The TDF contents of fruits analyzed in the present study were higher than their crude fiber content. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.