ABSTRACT
The term “complex carbohydrates” has been used in dietary recommendations for the past two decades in the United States. There is a lack of a clear definition of what is included in complex carbohydrates. Beginning with the second edition of the Dietary Goals in 1977 (1), the emphasis has been on complex carbohydrates as “starches,” i.e. digestible (available) polysaccharides, primarily starch and dextrins. The 1979 Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (2) referred to complex carbohydrates in terms of whole grains, cereals, fruits and vegetables, a usage that appears to include starch and non-starch polysaccharides (dietary fiber). A task force of the British Nutrition Foundation proposed elimination of the term dietary fiber and that complex carbohydrates be defined as starches plus non-starch polysaccharides (3). However, it does not appear that these recommendations will be accepted. In its July 1990 proposal for food labeling, the Food and Drug Administration proposed that, for regulatory purposes, complex carbohydrates be defined as the sum of dextrins and starches including those carbohydrate components that contain 10 or more saccharide units, excluding dietary fiber (4). This was not allowed in the final regulations when the term “other carbohydrates” was adopted rather than complex carbohydrates because of the lack of an accepted definition and analytical methodology for the latter (5).
