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non-starch polysaccharide

 
Food and Nutrition: non-starch polysaccharides

NSP

Those polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates), other than starches, found in foods. They are the major part of dietary fibre and can be measured more precisely than total dietary fibre; include cellulose, pectins, glucans, gums, mucilages, inulin, and chitin (and exclude lignin). The NSP in wheat, maize, and rice are mainly insoluble and have a laxative effect, while those in oats, barley, rye, and beans are mainly soluble and have a cholesterol lowering effect. In vegetables the proportions of soluble to insoluble are roughly equal but vary in fruits. It is recommended that the average intake should be increased from 13 to 18 g per day.

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Food and Fitness: non-starch polysaccharide
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A term used by nutritionists in the UK for the most easily measured and most precisely defined form of non-digestible food. The term is used in dietary guidelines in preference to dietary fibre, which is an ill-defined term and includes a range of different chemical components, with different effects on the body. The numerical value of non-starch polysaccharide is always lower than that of dietary fibre (by about two-thirds). See also fibre.

 
 

 

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Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Fitness. Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise. Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more