【Megazyme】Dietary Fiber Analysis Solutions

▍▏Why Measure Dietary Fiber?

Dietary fiber forms an important part of our diet and is a common food additive due to its impact on digestion and health. Within the food industry, manufacturers invest research and resources into means of maximising the dietary fiber content of their products and providing accurate information for food labelling.

Dietary fiber content labelling in processed foods is strictly regulated and mandatory in some regions. It is therefore important for the industry to have reliable and accurate means of measuring dietary fiber in a product for labelling purposes. The correct analysis of fibers is key for accurate calorie values, appropriate fiber content claims, and to avoid litigations linked to improper labelling.

Our Solutions

Our Megazyme® range of assay kits and enzyme products support a broad range of customer needs for dietary fiber analysis. We have been at the forefront of developing new and optimized methods for dietary fiber analysis, allowing us to accurately measure fiber ingredients, such as β-glucan, starch and carbohydrates that would not be measured using more traditional methods. Our methods have been officially validated by AOAC through meticulous interlaboratory studies and have been recognised as reference methods by CODEX Alimentarius.

Why Choose our Megazyme Range?

Our knowledge in the dietary fiber area coupled with our exceptional technical support, in-house enzyme manufacturing, and added value service, makes us a valuable partner who can support your analysis needs, every step of the way.

• Experienced in dietary fiber analysis methods

• International validated methods recognised globally

• Excellent in-house technical support

• Ultra-pure enzymes for enhanced accuracy and labelling compliance

• Secure stock and global supply chain

We understand manufacturers’ needs for high-quality diagnostic products that complement existing international standard methods for the analysis of dietary fiber and its components.

In addition to our product offering for fiber analysis according to the more traditional methods AOAC 985.29 and 991.43, we have developed four additional methods for fiber analysis to measure fiber according to the CODEX definition. These improved methods have been accepted as official AOAC standards and are also recognised by regulatory bodies worldwide as reference methods: AOAC 2009.01, 2011.25, 2017.16, and 2022.01.

What components of Dietary Fiber does each method measure accurately?

Which AOAC method is most appropriate to measure Dietary Fiber?

Rapid Integrated Total Dietary Fiber Methods

Our latest dietary fiber method, the Rapid Integrated Total Dietary Fiber Method (RINTDF) has been accepted by AOAC as the official standard method: AOAC 2022.01, and is the most recent, accurate, and encompassing method for dietary fiber analysis allowing for the measurement of both soluble and insoluble fiber separately.

The K-RINTDF assay kit is the only commercially available product that allows for the correct analysis of Dietary Fiber content as defined by CODEX Alimentarius and is suitable for AOAC methods 2017.16 (Codex Type I method) and 2022.01.

These methods are different from all other dietary fiber methods for their enzymatic incubation conditions mimicking human digestion. Under these conditions, a more accurate measurement of resistant starch is obtained, including phosphate cross-linked starch (RS4) and no fiber overestimation occurs when analysing starchy foods.

Our kit contains the three enzymes required for the assay and also several standards to be used in the HPLC step for the analysis of the non-digestible oligosaccharide portion of the fiber. Additional products, such as Celite and desalting resins, necessary to run these methods are also available in the Megazyme range.

K-RINTDF Advantages

The Total Dietary Fiber assay kit (K-TDFR) allows for the measurement of dietary fiber as specified in AOAC methods: 991.43, 991.42, and 985.29. These methods have been routinely used in the food industry and are recognised as the gold standard, however they fail to accurately measure certain fiber ingredients such as resistant starches and non-digestible oligosaccharides.

Our kit contains the three key enzymes required for this method, and we can also provide a bespoke pack-size suitable for use with the ANKOM semi-automated fiber analysers.

Some users choose to use AOAC 2001.03 in combination with the traditional AOAC methods (985.29 or 991.43) in order to measure the non-digestible oligosaccharides portion. While this is a known practice, this combination of methods may lead to issue with quantifying resistant starches (under and over-underestimation issues ), is costly and more prone to human errors due to the use of two separate methods.

K-TDFR Advantages

The Integrated Total Dietary Fiber assay kit (K-INTDF) allows for the measurement of dietary fiber following the official AOAC methods: 2009.01 and 2011.25. These methods follow the CODEX Alimentarius definition of dietary fiber and are recognised by selected government bodies as reference methods, however, they are not as universally applicable as AOAC 2017.16 and 2022.01 because they have under and over-estimation issues for some food types. These issues are linked to the long incubation conditions used in these methods which are not representative of human digestion.

Our kit contains the three enzymes required for the assay and several standards to be used in the HPLC step of these methods for the analysis of the non-digestible oligosaccharide portion of fiber. Our enzymes are also available for purchase as standalone products. Additional products such as Celite and desalting resins, necessary to run these methods are also available in the Megazyme range.

For those users that are interested in measuring dietary fiber according to the CODEX Alimentarius definition, we would recommend the option of using the novel methods AOAC 2017.16 and 2022.01 with our K-RINTDF assay kit.

Cereal β-glucan is a component of dietary fiber with recognized health benefits.

The β-glucan Assay Kit (K-BGLU) is suitable for the measurement of cereal β-glucan in cereal grains, milling fractions, malts, wort, beer, and food products following methods AOAC 995.16 and 992.28.

Regulatory bodies recognize β-glucan’s cardiovascular health and cholesterol-lowering benefits, permitting associated health claims in different regions. These health benefits make this cereal-based food component of particular interest to the food industry.

Cereal β-glucan is also an important analyte in the brewing industry where elevated levels can lead to increased wort viscosity and cause processing challenges. It is also of relevance in the animal feed industry where high levels of β-glucan can lead to reduced feed intake and decreased feed conversion.

Our kit contains the enzymes required for the assay, and components to measure cereal β-glucan using a spectrophotometer, including a reference β-glucan standard.

K-BGLU Advantages

Fructan, Inulin and FOS are a family of polysaccharides that form a component of dietary fiber and are used in food manufacturing processes for fiber fortification.

Fructans occur naturally in food, while FOS are approved fiber additives in infant formula in some countries. Selective analytical methods for fructan and FOS in food matrices and infant formula have been accepted as recognized standards, such as AOAC 999.03, 2016.14, and Chinese Standard GB 5009.255-2016.

While the Fructan assay kit (K-FRUC) is only compatible with the AOAC methods, our Megazyme range does offer ultrapure enzyme products that are suitable to be used when following the Chinese standard GB 5009.255-2016 method. When measured as part of dietary fiber and not as a single component, fructans including inulin and FOS are not fully measured by the traditional fiber methods AOAC 985.29 or 991.43 due to their low molecular weight which makes these ingredients non-digestible oligosaccharides. These fiber components can be measured in their entirety by the most recent methods for total dietary fiber AOAC 2017.16 and 2022.01.

K-RSTAR Advantages

Polydextrose (PDX) is a glucose-based synthetic polymer commonly used as a low molecular weight dietary fiber (LMWDF) source in infant formulas and adult nutritional drinks.

To analyze polydextrose in food, specific methods have been accepted, such as AOAC 2000.11 and the Chinese Standard GB 5009.245-2016. These methods involve enzymatic digestion using ultra-pure enzymes and chromatography detection.

The Megazyme range provides ultra-pure enzymes (E-AMGDF, E-EXOIAN, and E-ISAMY) that can be used according to these official methods.

When assessing polydextrose as part of dietary fiber, it is not fully quantified by the traditional fiber methods AOAC 985.29 or 991.43, as it is considered a non-digestible oligosaccharide (NDO). However, the most recent methods for total dietary fiber, such as AOAC 2017.16 and 2022.01, account for the measurement of polydextrose as part of the overall dietary fiber content.

Available carbohydrates are the portion of carbohydrates that are digestible by humans in the small intestine and therefore are not dietary fiber.

The Available Carbohydrates assay kit (K-AVCHO) is suitable for the determination of available carbohydrates comprising total digestible starch (TDS) plus maltodextrins, maltose, sucrose, isomaltose, D-galactose, D-glucose, D-fructose and lactose. The method on which this kit is based, has been officially validated as AOAC 2020.08.

It is also a perfect complement to AOAC methods 2017.16 and 2002.01 (K-RINTDF). Both methods use an equivalent enzyme incubation step that is physiologically relevant, making the kits ideal for simultaneous analysis; K-RINTDF measures dietary fiber, while K-AVCHO measures those carbohydrates that are digestible and therefore not fiber.

Laboratories that continue to work with pre-CODEX definition of Dietary Fiber are supported by our Available Carbohydrates / Dietary Fiber Assay Kit (K-ACHDF), which measures TDF using AOAC 985.29/991.43 in addition to measuring available carbohydrates.

Available for the measurement of dietary fiber analysis

Available for the measurement of dietary fiber components