What is the Application of Soluble Dietary Fiber in Food?

July 18, 2024

Dietary fiber is an important component of a healthy diet. Soluble dietary fiber, in particular, has been linked to many health benefits, from improved digestion to lower cholesterol. But beyond the health implications for us as individuals, soluble fiber also has some interesting applications in food production and cooking. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what soluble fiber is, why it’s useful, and how it can be applied during food preparation.

What is Soluble Dietary Fiber?

Before jumping into the various uses of soluble fiber, let’s make sure we all understand what it is exactly.
Dietary fiber refers to the parts of plant foods that your body can’t fully break down. There are a few different types, but one of the main categories is soluble fiber. This type of fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance in your digestive tract.

Some common examples of foods high in soluble fiber include:

Oats
Barley
Nuts
Beans
Lentils
Some fruits like apples and citrus
Some vegetables like carrots and potatoes

Soluble dietary fiber can dissolve because it contains pectin, gums, and mucilage – compounds that absorb water easily. This gives it some particularly useful properties when cooking or developing food products, as we’ll explore next.

Why Use Soluble Dietary Fiber in Cooking?

Soluble dietary fiber offers several functional advantages when preparing food that makes it a useful addition for home cooks as well as food manufacturers:

It Functions as a Thickening Agent
Since soluble dietary fiber soaks up liquid and turns gelatinous, it can be used to thicken up food products from salad dressings to stews. Adding a tablespoon of psyllium husk powder, for example, is a simple way to lend somebody to an otherwise thin sauce or gravy.
This thickening capacity also comes in handy when canning produce or developing shelf-stable items. The added viscosity helps maintain the desired texture over time.

It Can Replace Eggs or Fat in Baked Goods
In some recipes, soluble dietary fiber can provide structure in place of ingredients like eggs or butter. So if you’re looking for a handy vegan swap when baking, ground flax or chia seeds may do just the trick thanks to their gelling superpowers. A tablespoon can substitute for each egg called for in the recipe.

It Slows Digestion and Absorption
Foods heavy in soluble fiber take longer for the body to break down, meaning sugar is released more gradually into the bloodstream. That’s why high-fiber breakfast cereals, for instance, provide lasting energy compared to the quick spike and crash many sugary options cause.
For people with diabetes who need to carefully regulate their blood sugar, incorporating soluble fiber into meals and snacks helps maintain steady levels.

It Can Replace White Flour to Increase Nutrition
Replacing traditional white flour with whole grain alternatives when baking is a sneaky way to up your family’s fiber intake. Using at least half whole wheat or other unprocessed flour gives treats like cookies a nutritional boost but with no loss in deliciousness!

It Extends the Shelf Life of Baked Goods
That same delayed digestion applies to microbes as well. Since soluble fiber keeps moisture in, it takes mold and bacteria longer to cause spoilage. So adding fibre-rich ingredients like fruit skins when cooking means your creations stay fresher longer.

The Application of Soluble Dietary Fiber in Food

Now that we understand why soluble fiber is so useful when preparing food, let’s explore some specific applications across both commercial food production and home cooking.

As a Food Additive and Stabilizer

The food industry widely uses isolated or concentrated vegetable fibers as additives to enhance the structure, texture, or stability of products. Some common examples include:

Resistant maltodextrin – produced by enzymatic treatment of starch. It’s widely used in beverages, baked goods, and dairy products to increase fiber content without significantly altering taste or texture. It also functions as a bulking agent and can help reduce calorie content.
Polydextrose – synthesized from glucose and sorbitol. This versatile ingredient is used in sugar-free and reduced-calorie foods as a bulking agent, texturizer, and humectant. It’s commonly found in baked goods, frozen desserts, and confectionery products, providing fiber content and improving mouthfeel.
Isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO) – are produced from starch through enzymatic processes. IMO is used as a low-calorie sweetener and prebiotic fiber in various food products. It’s particularly popular in protein bars, beverages, and baked goods, where it contributes to improved texture and shelf life while offering potential gut health benefits.
Pectin – extracted from citrus peels or apple pomace then added to fruit spreads and sweets to lend thickness. Also used in yogurt to stabilize texture.
Gums – adding small amounts of vegetable gums like guar or xanthan allows greater control over the viscosity and consistency of items like salad dressings, ice cream, plant-based milk substitutes, and gluten-free baked goods.
Inulin – this soluble fiber extracted from chicory roots features in many processed foods from nutrition bars to frozen desserts. Its excellent moisture retention qualities maintain texture over time.

The gelling magic of isolated soluble fibers makes them incredibly functional food additives. Manufacturers can achieve very precise, consistent results that would be difficult when relying only on whole-food ingredients.

To Add Creaminess to Drinks and Sauces

Soluble fibers blend exceptionally smoothly, making them perfect for lending a lush, creamy texture. Stir some inulin or resistant maltodextrin into your next pot of chili or bean stew to give it some body and silkiness without altering the flavor significantly.
Or blend a small amount of guar gum or xanthan gum into your morning shake for a lighter, frothier texture than oil-based additions. These hydrocolloids can dramatically improve mouthfeel and stability in beverages.

To Firm Up Canned Produce

Home canners can utilize soluble fibers to create firmer, tastier preserves with improved texture. Adding pectin, derived from citrus peels or apple pomace, helps jams and jellies set properly without overcooking, preserving more of the fruit’s natural flavor and color.
Polydextrose can be added to low-sugar preserves to improve body and mouthfeel without significantly altering sweetness. It helps retain moisture, potentially extending shelf life and maintaining texture over time.
Resistant dextrin can be incorporated into fruit spreads or savory preserves to increase fiber content and provide a subtle thickening effect. It’s particularly useful in creating reduced-calorie products without compromising on texture.
For jams and jellies, combining these newer fibers with small amounts of traditional pectin can result in products with excellent sets, improved nutritional profiles, and enhanced stability during storage.
In savory preserves or chutneys, a blend of resistant dextrin and small amounts of gums like xanthan gum or guar can help stabilize the mixture, prevent separation, and contribute to a more consistent texture over time.

To Improve Mouthfeel of Meatless Dishes

For plant-based recipes, soluble fiber transforms the experience from dull mush to heartier, more satisfying texture. Mixing in a few tablespoons of psyllium powder gives veggie burgers a pleasantly chewy quality reminiscent of meat.

Health Implications of Soluble Dietary Fiber

In addition to the functional benefits soluble dietary fiber offers in food preparation, let’s remember it also promotes good health!
Studies consistently show higher intakes can help:
•Lower “bad” LDL cholesterol
•Regulate blood sugar
•Support healthy digestion
•Aid weight maintenance
Aim for around 25g of fiber daily from whole food sources. The solutions are simple and delicious – eat an apple or pear for dessert, stir some beans into your next casserole, snack on nuts, soak oats overnight for breakfast parfaits.
Just be sure to drink plenty of fluid when upping fiber intake to prevent any digestive discomfort. Incremental increases are wise.

Conclusion

Soluble dietary fiber clearly plays many important roles related to diet and health. Understanding its unique gelling properties helps explain why it’s both an exceptional culinary ingredient and a protective nutrient.
Incorporating more soluble dietary fiber-rich ingredients like pectin, inulin, resistant maltodextrin, and polydextrose is easy and offers benefits well beyond the kitchen or food lab. For innovators developing the next generation of functional foods and ingredients, unlocking the potential of compounds like beta-glucans and fructo-oligosaccharides promises exciting possibilities ahead!

As a professional food additive supplier, Mondstar offers soluble dietary fiber supply solutions. Whether you need resistant dextrin, polydextrose, or pectin, we provide high-quality options to meet your formulation requirements. Contact us to obtain your dietary fiber solution.

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