Antioxidant dietary fiber from food byproducts: case studies

The food industry produces tons of byproducts per year, even before the consumption phase. During the cultivation, postharvest, and processing of fruits, vegetables and cereals were produced large amounts of food byproducts. Food byproducts have been described as a rich source of bioactive compounds associated with several health benefits such as phenolic compounds and dietary fiber. These bioactive compounds are generally studied separately. However, phenolic compounds have been found associated with dietary fiber, as linked components, conferring health-related properties, especially antioxidant capacity. A new dietary fiber concept, the antioxidant dietary fiber, has emerged and is explored in several vegetable byproducts. Antioxidant dietary fiber has become increasingly attractive to food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries due to its ability to confer not only nutritional and technological properties, but also bioactive beneficial health properties to products. In this sense, the purpose of the present chapter is to: (1) Clarify the concept of antioxidant dietary fiber; (2) Identify vegetable byproducts as potential resources of antioxidant dietary fiber; (3) Review the transformation processes of food byproducts into antioxidant dietary fibers as ingredients with potential to develop new functional food products; and (4) Illustrate the technological, nutritional, and health-benefit functionalities of antioxidant dietary fiber as a new functional ingredient.