Fibre, Oxalic Acid and Phytin Phosphorus in the Diets and Blood Cholesterol Levels of Selected Adult Population of Tamil Nadu

Crude fibre is the fraction of a plant food remaining after the food had been boiled sequentially, first in acid and then in alkali. This measurement was introduced in the first half of the 19th century for veterinary and not human purposes and measured only part of the cellulose and part of the lignin. In 1975, Trowell introduced the term 'dietary fibre' to describe that part of plant food that traverses the small intestine and is not digested by the endogenous secretions within it.