DIETARY FIBER CONTENT OF 21 KUWAITI COMPOSITE DISHES

Dietary fiber analyses were carried out on 21 commonly consumed Kuwait i composite dishes. The dietary fiber content was determined by an enz ymatic-gravimetric method for the determination of soluble (SDF), inso luble (IDF) and total (TDF) dietary fiber. The IDF was the major dieta ry fiber fraction in all the dishes. The average content of IDF in the 21 dishes was 3.7 g/100 g fresh weight compared with 1.00 g/100 g for the SDF fraction. The mean content of TDF was highest in the sweet di shes (4.2 +/- 1.3722 g; n = 10), particularly those containing dates, followed by the cereal-based dishes (3.9 +/- 1.9523 g; n = 10) contain ing whole grain wheat flour. The meat- (3.46 +/- 1.3722 g; n = 14) and chicken-based (2.7 +/- 0.1331 g; n = 4) dishes contained moderate lev els of TDF, with the vegetables (3.87 g; n = 2) in the recipes contrib uting most of the TDF in these dishes. However, since most of the dish es contained 2-4 g dietary fiber per 100 g fresh weight, and more than 100 g is consumed in a serving (average 300-400 g), then these dishes can generally be considered as good sources of dietary fiber. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science Ltd.