ABSTRACT
Dietary fiber has played an important and healthful role in the history of the human food supply. Hypocrites recognized the laxative benefits of whole wheat flour over that of refined wheat flour. In the 19th century, Graham, of graham cracker fame, denounced the “unhealthful” effects of refined carbohydrate, and the Kellogg® and Post® cereals owe their start to increase in wheat bran consumption. The modern era of research into the health benefits of fiber began in the middle of the 20th century with the development of the “dietary fiber hypothesis” based on observations in Africa of distinct differences in incidence of certain chronic diseases between blacks who consumed diets rich in dietary fiber in their rural homelands and urbanized blacks and whites with low fiber diets. The people with low fiber diets had significantly more incidence of colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and diverticular disease which are common in Western countries. Since the 1970s dietary fiber has become one of the most widely researched food components for both health and food technology purposes.
