ABSTRACT
Interest in analyzing food products for the various types of carbohydrates (digestible vs. nondigestible [soluble and insoluble dietary ber], metabolizable vs. nonmetabolizable, caloric vs. reduced caloric vs. noncaloric, prebiotic vs. nonprebiotic, etc.) continues to increase, but denitions of some of these characteristics remain unresolved, which results in controversies over what should be measured and how. What is clear is that there is an increasing demand for analysis of food products and ingredients. is chapter reviews analytical methods that have been used or proposed to be used to determine amounts or purities of nonstarch, polysaccharidic hydrocolloids. It is not exhaustive in terms of either water-soluble food polysaccharides or methods, but should give a picture of recent developments.
