Abstract: The term ‘dietary fibre’ was coined in the middle of the twentieth century by Hipsley for the indigestible constituents of the plant cell wall. Diets rich in plant cell wall material are protective against a number of diseases (such as obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease and some cancers). Diets poor in plant foods are causative for some conditions, particularly those that are related to the development of excessive abdominal pressures: diverticular disease, haemorrhoids and appendicitis. Dietary fibre is not a homogenous substance but a mixture of particular components: polysaccharides with β-glycosidic bonds, e.g. cellulose and hemicelluloses, as well as several other with α-bonds, e.g. pectin, some xyloglucans of mixed bonding, plus lignin. The definition also implies the analytical method of identifying dietary fibres, i.e. various reagents help eliminate the substances digestible in the small intestine of the human body (proteins, starch), then the undigested remnants in the sample are dried and weighed. Hence the name gravimetric for these methods. The most common method approved by AOAC for quantitative identification of dietary fibre is the enzymatic-gravimetric, which involves treating the sample with enzymes (α-amylase, protease and amylglucosidase) similar to those with which humans digest food, after which the remnants are dried and weighed. Another generally accepted method is introduced by Englyst and Cummings (enzymaticchemical method), which gives information about the components of the dietary fibres.