Digestibility of dietary fiber components in vegetarian men

Digestibility of fiber components namely neutral detergent fiber (total content of cellwall) cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are estimated in 14 healthy vegetarian men during adlibitum feeding and at 3 energy levels namely 2526, 2868 and 3290 kcals/day. Values of digestibility for adlibitum experiments were 34.17 +/- 2.3 for neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 30.1 +/- 3.9 for cellulose and 53.4 +/- 3.0 for hemicellulose and 8.1 +/- 2.6 for lignin. There was a considerable variability in digestibility of fiber components between individuals.