ABSTRACT
Dietary fiber is an essential part of the diet, both as a natural food component and as an added ingredient, providing an invaluable contribution to human nutrition and health. The soluble and insoluble fractions of dietary fiber behave differently and have a different fate in the alimentary tract. The various chemical and physical conditions make it virtually impossible to predict the bioavailability of all minerals in a mixed diet since fiber components such as phytate, tannins, and saponins occur together in a food. Concerns associated with a high intake of dietary fiber and its adverse effects on mineral bioavailability are largely due to the ability of dietary fiber to chelate ions in vitro. Dietary fiber rarely affects the absorption of minerals uniformly; it will affect specific minerals or mineral groups. The purpose of the experimental design was to test the belief that the oxalate in the rhubarb fiber would bind calcium.
