Chock Full O' Fiber

Coffee drinkers worried about the health effects of java's complex chemical brew might sip a little easier. M. Elena Díaz-Rubio and Fulgencio Saura-Calixto at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, in Madrid, recently quantified the soluble dietary fiber in brewed coffee and discovered that the beverage contains more soluble dietary fiber than tea or orange juice (J. Ag. Food Chem. 2007, 55, 1999). The researchers tested three coffee preparations with a modified enzymatic treatment and a dialysis process. They found that instant coffee has more fiber (0.75 g/100 mL coffee) than espresso (0.65 g) or filtered coffee (0.47 g). Also adding to the health buzz, the fiber contains a large amount of phenolic antioxidants, Díaz-Rubio and Saura-Calixto report. Of course, one would have to drink a lot of coffee to get the roughly 20 g per day of dietary fiber recommended for adults by agencies in the U.S. and Europe. The researchers say further study on the biological properties of the fiber is needed.