Determination of dietary fibre as non-starch polysaccharides by gas–liquid chromatography

An improved method is described for the measurement of total, soluble and insoluble dietary fibre as non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). An established procedure is modified to allow more rapid removal of starch and hydrolysis of NSP. In its present form the procedure is simpler and more robust than those previously published. In the modified method starch is removed enzymically within 50 min and NSP is precipitated with ethanol and then hydrolysed by treatment with sulfuric acid for 2 h. The constituent sugars can in turn be measured by gas–liquid chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography or more rapidly by colorimetry. The improved procedure described here for the removal of starch and hydrolysis of NSP applies to all three techniques, but only the method for measurement of sugars by gas–liquid chromatography is described here in full.