History of dietary fiber

In the 1930s, J. H. Kellogg confirmed the positive effects of wheat bran on patients suffering with colitis and constipation. 1953 British physician, Dr. Eben Hipsley coined the term dietary fiber as a nondigestible constituents making up the plant cell wall and further its definition has seen several revisions. He coined the phrase “dietary fiber” in an article on pregnancy toxaemia.

Between 1972 and 1976, Trowell, Burkitt, Walker, Painter, and co-workers (2–6) adopted Hipsley’s term in conjunction with a number of health-related hypotheses they were developing, referred to as their “dietary fiber hypotheses.” Having spent a significant part of their careers studying populations in sub-Saharan Africa, British researchers Denis Burkitt and Hugh Trowell published the opinion that the reason why native Africans had low rates of diseases such as diverticulosis, diabetes, gallstones, arteriosclerosis, and ischemic heart disease, which were frequently seen in developed countries, may be the result of a high intake of fiber.

By 1976, the dietary fiber definition had been broadened to include all indigestible polysaccharides (mostly plant storage saccharides), such as gums, modified celluloses, mucilages, oligosaccharides, and pectins.

Between 1980s–2000s: many definitions evolved nationally and internationally. By 1985, Leon Prosky had successfully led a collaborative effort to reach consensus within the scientific community on dietary fiber methodology.

In 2001 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended that "dietary fiber" be defined as the nondigestible carbohydrates that occur naturally in plants.
History of dietary fiber