CRC Handbook of Dietary Fiber in Human Nutrition PDF

Preface to the Third Edition

Dietary fiber research has seen a great deal of progress since the first and second editions of this Handbook. This new edition has been revised and updated by individual authors, with the exception of a few chapters that either have historical value or have data that should be available in a handbook of this nature, even though it may have been written a few years before the publication. I like to define the latter as "classic" chapters that have an essential, timeless nature. Some new authors and chapters have been added, including a new section on cereal fiber that emphasizes the crucial role of associated phytochemicals.

Hugh Trowell passed away in 1989; his chapter has been left untouched. Denis Burkitt passed away soon after the publication of the second edition, in which he had written the opening chapter with me. I have chosen to expand this first chapter without changing the part published in the second edition of the Handbook. I have added a second part to that chapter to bring it up to date. This new edition should give researchers, physicians, nutritionists, and other health professionals a useful and ready source of information, as a handbook should. Again, as in the other editions, we could not ask all the experts in this field to contribute.

We hope that our efforts will make this work valuable to everyone interested in this topic. One new chapter (2.8) discusses a fiber from animal sources. This is an interesting topic in fiber definitions, as dietary fiber is considered to be from plant sources.

With all the great progress we have made in the past 10 years in nutrition research, it is unfortunate that the past 10 years have also seen conflicting studies on fiber, as on other topics in nutrition. In the late 1970s, Hugh Trowell, during one of our many meetings, expressed to me his concern that in the earnest desire to do more research, the picture of the benefits of fiber may become "muddled." I would like to close this preface with an appeal to all fiber researchers to be careful in reaching sweeping conclusions before considering carefully the complexity and the interactivity of dietary fiber. Some major publications have reached conclusions on the effects of fiber after studying diets that were a long way from diets that could be called high-fiber diets.

Dietary fiber is a precious gift that plants bring to us. Let's research it and teach about it with care.