Megazyme International carbohydrates and dietary fibre assay kits

Megazyme International carbohydrates and dietary fibre assay kits can be used to assay the available carbohydrates in grains, fruit and vegetables, cereal and fruit products and foods. The kits are particularly useful for the analysis of samples containing resistant starch (specifically RS2 and RS3).

The term ‘available carbohydrates’ refers to carbohydrates that are digested and absorbed by the human small intestine; these include D-glucose, D-fructose, sucrose, maltodextrins, non-resistant starch and the D-glucose component of lactose; all measured as D-glucose plus D-fructose following enzymic hydrolysis.

Dietary fibre is a mixture of complex organic substances including a range of hydrophilic compounds such as soluble and insoluble polysaccharides and non-digestable oligosaccharides as well as non-swellable, more or less hydrophobic compounds such as cutins, suberins and lignins. This assay measures all of the above except for non-digestible oligosaccharides, as these remain soluble in the ethanolic solution used to precipitate high-molecular-weight dietary-fibre components.