The article evaluates the effect of dietary fibers as functional ingredient in meat products and
their physiological role in human health. Fibers are naturally occurring compounds present
in variety of vegetables, fruits, cereal flours etc in abundance, and act through their solubility,
viscosity, gel forming ability, water-binding capacity, oil adsorption capacity, fermentability,
and mineral and organic molecule binding capacity which affect product quality and
characteristics. Beside these, high-fiber intake tends to reduce risk of colon cancer, obesity …

Dietary fiber (DF) is defined as lignin and the polysaccharide components of plants which
are indigestible by enzymes in human gastrointestinal tract. Increased intake of DF has been
strongly recommended because of their effects in decreasing the risk of diabetes, colon
cancer, obesity and cardiovascular illnesses in human. Functional foods can be defined as
foods that are used to prevent and treat certain disorders and illnesses, in addition to their
nutritional value by itself. Dietary fiber is one of the components (amino acids, peptides and …