Dietary Fibre - ILSI Argentina

34 Concise Monograph Series
GLOSSARY
Adenoma: A benign tumour of epithelial origin that is
derived from glandular tissue; it may become
malignant.
Bioavailability: The fractional amount of a nutrient or
other bioactive substance that, after ingestion,
becomes available for use in target tissues.
Carcinogen: A substance capable of causing cancer.
Case-control study: An observational study that
compares the exposure to a suspected cause of a
disease in people with that disease (cases) to the
exposure in those without that disease (controls);
exposure is thus assessed retrospectively.
Codex Alimentarius Commission: An organisation
that creates and compiles standards, codes of practice
and recommendations. Membership is open to all
countries associated with the Food and Agricultural
Organisation of the United Nations and the World
Health Organization.
Cohort study: Observational study in which data on
exposure to suspected causes of e.g. a disease are
collected in a selected/recruited group of people
(cohort) who do not yet have the disease(s) under
investigation. The subjects are then followed for a
period of time, after which it can be assessed whether
the onset of disease is related to (the presence of)
suspected causes.
Colon: Large intestine.
Degree of polymerisation: The number of monosaccharide
units in a specific carbohydrate.
Epidemiology: The study of health and the occurrence
of diseases and their predictors and causes.
Fermentation: Metabolism to extract energy from
substrates by microorganisms. In the context of dietary
fibre, fermentation involves anaerobic (without
oxygen) degradation of indigestible carbohydrates by
the micro flora (mainly bacteria) of the large intestine.
Gelatinisation: When applied to starch, which is the
most common use of this term: Loss of the initial
crystalline structure.
Glycaemic index (GI): The incremental area under the
blood glucose response curve of a 50 g carbohydrate
portion of a test food expressed as a percentage of the
response to the same amount of carbohydrate from a
standard food consumed by the same subject
(standard: glucose or white bread).
Glycaemic response: The rise in blood glucose
concentration following the ingestion of a food.
Hyperlipidaemia: Abnormal elevations of fat (lipids) in
the blood, including LDL-cholesterol, and
triglycerides.
Hypertension: Elevated blood pressure.
Insulin resistance: Impaired insulin sensitivity,
impairing insulin-stimulated uptake of glucose by
tissues.
Intervention study: Study in which investigators
intervene by allocating one or more treatments or
other interventions in certain subjects, after which
they observe outcomes of interest.
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: Cholesterol
carried in aggregates with specific proteins from the
liver to other tissues. High levels are associated with
an increased risk of heart disease.
Meta-analysis: Review of intervention or observational
studies that quantitatively summarises results.