Challenges for Dietary Fiber: Benefits and Costs of New U.S. Regulations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published new regulations defining dietary fiber for labeling purposes. These new rules are having a tremendous effect on the food industry and may inhibit growth in the dietary fiber sector. This article examines the new rules and the use of regulatory policy to influence consumption of dietary fiber. While Canada recently implemented regulations allowing an increase in the quantity and variety of dietary fibers by reducing the regulatory barriers to dietary fiber approval, the United States has taken the opposite approach by enacting a rigorous premarket review/approval process for certain dietary fibers that is similar to Canada's previous, more restrictive, system. The likely impact of the new dietary fiber regulations is softened by their allowance of caloric values of 0 and 2 kcal/g, respectively, for insoluble and soluble nondigestible carbohydrates, regardless of whether they qualify as dietary fiber under the new rule. Finally, because dietary ...