Does Fiber Count Dracula Question Mark

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tiddlebit11
tiddlebit11 Posts: 182
in Food and Nutrition
I know that fiber is a form of carbohydrate.... but should it be counted in calories intake if it is not absorbed?

I have several illnesses involving my digestive system and thus need a high fiber intake so currently use fiber supplement in green tea...but should i count this in my daily fiber in take if it is insoluble fiber? The pack says there's 25 cal per serve, but if this is not actually being absorbed into the body is it actually providing any energy or is the package just made to state this due to legal requirements about nutritional contents?

There seems to be conflicting ideas so far from what ive found

The fiber supplement i use is Metamucils 'Fibersure' that is just Inulin (100% natural vegetable fiber)

Replies

  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    hmmmm... trick question? Up to you. I log all my vitamins just to keep track and make sure I take them.
  • tiddlebit11
    tiddlebit11 Posts: 182
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    Confusedizzled

    Oh fiber.. why cant you be a simple question! :P
  • tiddlebit11
    tiddlebit11 Posts: 182
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    This may bore people... but i think i found the answer....

    Dietary carbohydrates, which are absorbed as hexose, (glucose, fructose) have a caloric value of 3.9 kcal/g (16.3 kJ/g), and their cellular metabolism produces ∼38 mol ATP/mol. However, chicory inulin and oligofructose resist digestion and they are not absorbed in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract.

    After oral ingestion, they reach the colon intact where they become hydrolyzed and extensively fermented by saccharolytic bacteria, which produce short-chain carboxylic and lactic acids as electron sinks. Depending on both the degree of their colonic fermentation and the assumptions of the model used, the caloric value of such nondigested but fermented carbohydrates varies between 0 and 2.5 kcal/g.

    Through the catabolism of the absorbed short-chain carboxylic and lactic acids, they may produce up to 17 mol ATP/mol of fermented sugar moiety. Because the daily intake of these dietary carbohydrates is likely to remain relatively small (<10% and probably often not >5% of total daily calorie intake), it is of low relevance nutritionally to give them a precise caloric value.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    In the UK we measure fibre and report it separately to carbohydrates and under EU rules it has a different calorific value. This lower calorific value is incorporated in the calories value on the label.

    Might be worth looking up Australian analytical and labelling practice ?

    US labels subtract ash, fats and protein from a bone dry sample and call what's left "carbohydrates" which include fiber.

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