Food Business News | Consumers mistaken on food sources of fiber. – 2011 February 24
‘Strong moral fiber’ and fibrous (tough, chewy) foods are not substitutes for eating at least 25 grams of dietary fiber every day. (Two to three times that amount (50 – 75 grams) is best – so long as your water intake increases proportionally.) As noted in the November 2010 survey referenced in the above article, many Americans mistakenly believe that meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, and water provide dietary fiber. Further, they believe that their fiber intake is sufficient; the average American eats far less (15 grams of fiber a day according the Harvard School of Public Health) than the minimum recommended amount.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12146567
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fiber-full-story/
A healthful diet corresponds to foods high in fiber: legumes, green and orange vegetables, whole-grains, nuts, and brightly colored fruits. The simple mnemonic is that all unprocessed plants foods have fiber; processed plant foods and animal foods do not. (Fiber can be added back after processing, but when possible select unsupplemented foods.)
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/fiber-how-much-do-you-need
Dietary fiber consists of soluble and insoluble fiber in varying proportions. Since they have different health benefits, you should consume a mix of the two. By weight, most foods have more insoluble than soluble fiber. For example, less than 1/4th of an unpeeled apple’s fiber is soluble (pectin). Flax seed is not only very high in insoluble fiber, but has slightly more soluble than insoluble fiber.
http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/dietary-fiber/fiber-content.php
http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/dietary-fiber/soluble-fiber-content-in-food.php
One medium apple, raw, (with skin) has 4.4 grams of dietary fiber; remove the skin and the content drops to 2.1 grams; turn it into 1/2 cup of applesauce (the lunchbox serving size) and the content further drops to 1.35 grams; or turn it into 1 cup of apple juice and the content is negligible – 0.5 grams. (Apple juice is cooked (pasteurized) and strained; apple cider (also called ‘sweet cider’ or ‘soft cider’) and apple cider vinegar are not cooked and are not strained so they do contain fiber; ‘sparkling apple cider’ is carbonated apple juice (and so has even less fiber content per cup than apple juice); and ‘hard cider’, ‘apple wine’, or ‘cider’ is fermented apple juice with no fiber.)
http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/dietary-fiber.html
One slice of typical white bread has 0.6 grams of fiber, one slice of typical ‘multi-grain’ bread has 1.9 grams, and one slice of Vital Vittles Flax Oat Bread (whole grain) has 4 grams.
One 55 gram serving of a 9.7 ounce bar of Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Dark Chocolate Baking Bar (99% cacao) has 9 grams of dietary fiber. (Since that serving also has 19 grams of saturated fat – 95% of the Percent Daily Value for a 2,000 calorie diet – moderation is important.) One tablespoon (5 grams) of Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (100% cacao) has 2 grams of fiber and less than 0.5 g (3% DV) of saturated fat. (In a typical cocoa powder the ratio of insoluble to soluble fiber is 2:1; 100 grams of cocoa powder has 33.2 grams of fiber of which 22.8 grams is insoluble.) A mug of hot chocolate made with one tablespoon of cocoa powder and one cup of coconut water (3 grams of fiber and less than 0.5 g (2% DV) of saturated fat) provides 1/5th of the recommended minimum daily fiber intake for an adult woman.
http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/dietary-fiber/insoluble-fiber-sources.php
The recommended minimum daily fiber intake varies based on age and gender – though the latter is more related to keeping fiber proportional to calorie intake than to gender differences.
Children = age + 5 grams
Women under age 51 = 25 grams
Men under age 51 = 38 grams
Women over age 50 = 21 grams
Men and Women over age 50 = 30 grams