Dietary fiber and resistant starch intake in Brazil: recommendations and actual consumption patterns.

The daily intake of insoluble dietary fiber (DF) was statistically lower in the constipation group than in the control group, while the intake of soluble fiber was similar. Resistant starch (RS) associated with insoluble fiber has physiological effects such as increase in fecal volume, dilution of potentially carcinogens. The determination of RS content of Brazilian foods has been carried out at Sao Paulo University. Food composition tables presently available in Brazil are outdated and incomplete in terms of foods and nutrients. The high number of foods graded C was in part due to the lack of detailed information about the analytical procedures, insufficient numbers of sample, or poor description of the analytical quality control used. DF information regarding manufactured foods is scarce. A possible reason is the lack of interest among some Brazilian food industries in using labeling for nutritional information and education.