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The present paper describes a simple method for the determination of the insoluble and soluble dietary fibres in food. In a first step, starch and proteins are removed by enzyme treatment. The insoluble dietary fibres are determined gravimetrically after centrifugation and washing of the residue with water, ethanol, acetone and diethyl ether. The water-soluble dietary fibres are recovered from the supernatant liquid of the centrifugation by dialysis, freeze-drying, and subsequent weighing. The method has been used for the determination of dietary fibres in by-products from the industry.

1. The effect of heat treatment of bran on true zinc absorption was measured using an isotope-dilution technique. A bran-based breakfast cereal (heated to 204' for 40 min during manufacture) was incorporated into a semi-synthetic diet at a level of 180 g/kg. A parallel diet was formulated containing an identical weight of untreated bran from the same source plus other ingredients used to make the cereal.2. Young male Wistar rats (mean weight 80 g) were injected intramuscularly with 6sZn to label body Zn. They were given the heat-treated-and untreated-bran diets for 9 d. During the last 6 d of this period Zn intakes and faecal and urinary Zn were measured in order to calculate apparent Zn retention. True Zn retention was measured by taking into account losses of Zn of endogenous origin (labelled with YZn), by measuring faecal and urinary 85Zn and taking the mean specific radioactivity of Zn in kidneys and upper smali intestine to represent specific radioactivity of endogenous origin.3. Heat treatment of bran removed approximately one-third of the phytate, but this was not enough to improveZn absorption from the diet. True Zn retention measured by isotope dilution was significantly higher (P < 0.02) than apparent Zn retention measured by the conventional balance technique. 4. The hypothesis that a reduction in particle size of bran would improve mineral availability was tested by feeding coarse and milled bran (100 g/kg diet) in a semi-synthetic diet to rats and measuring true Fe and apparent Zn absorptions. The importance of phytate was also investigated by feedin-a diet containing dephytinized bran. 5.Male Wistar rats (mean weight 172 g) were given diets containing coarse, milled or dephytinized bran for 9 d. Fe and Zn intakes were measured and faeces and urine collected for Fe and Zn analysis.6. The mean ( ~S E ) particle size of the bran was reduced on milling from 3.5 ( f 1.8) to 0.2-0.5 mm. There were no differences in the fraction of Fe retained between the three groups. Particle size had a small effect on Zn retention which was marginally higher in rats on the milled-bran diet (0.126 (kO.023)) than in those on the coarse-bran diet (0.087 (f0.012)). Total removal of phytate had a greater effect and apparent Zn retention from the dephytinized-bran diet was significantly higher (0,182 (k0.027), P i 0.01).