Individual Sugars, Soluble, and Insoluble Dietary Fiber Contents of 70 High Consumption Foods

As part of the continuous efforts of the Nutrient Data Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA in updating and expanding the carbohydrate data in its database, foods were selected based on dietary fiber content and frequency of consumption. They were analyzed by a commercial testing laboratory under a USDA contract. Individual sugars, soluble and insoluble dietary fiber values of 70 foods in six food groups were reported. Foods included 14 baked products, 10 cereal grains and pastas, 19 fruits, seven legumes, 10 cooked vegetables, and 10 raw vegetables. Except for cereal grains/pasta and legumes, most other foods contained fructose and glucose; sucrose was found in almost all except baked products, which were the most predominant source of maltose. Fruits contained the most total sugar and cereal, grains/pasta the least. Legumes contained the highest amount of total dietary fiber. All these commonly consumed foods, with the exception of cooked white rice, contained both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. The percent of soluble and insoluble fiber varied across food groups, even within each group. Comparison of data from the commercial laboratory with those of the same food analyzed in the Food Composition Laboratory using different methods indicated there was good agreement between high-performance liquid chromatographic and gas chromatographic methods for the determination of individual sugars. Total dietary fiber as calculated from the sum of soluble and insoluble fiber according to AOAC Method 991.43 and total dietary fiber from direct analysis using a single enzyme-gravimetric method showed high variability (r2<0.8) for three of the six food groups, but good agreement for others.