HIGH FIBER BAKERY, BEVERAGE AND BEVERAGE CONCENTRATE PRODUCTS.

FIELD OF INVENTION Invention pertains to preparing pre-cooked food formulations high in dietary fiber in general as illustrated by high fiber baked foods, beverages and beverage concentrates. Invention also pertains to methods of preparing high fiber baked foods, beverages and beverage concentrates that contain fiber from green leafy vegetables/vegetation, the said fiber being extracted from green leafy vegetables/vegetation or being as part of the green leaf vegetable powder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention comprises composition comprising at least insoluble dietary fiber, food additives and, optionally, soluble dietary fiber; wherein calories of the composition do not exceed 100 K calories per 3 gram total dietary fiber and the composition is a pre-cooked food formulation. Food additives comprise cereal products, grain products, legume products, edible adhesives, sweeteners, salt, colors, flavors, thickeners and preservatives. In another embodiment of this invention, at least one of the ingredients comprises edible insoluble dietary fiber derived from green leafy vegetable/vegetation or crop residues. The insoluble dietary fiber derived from green leafy vegetable/vegetation is a high fiber composition obtained by steps of: comminuting fresh green leafy vegetable/vegetation, and (a) either: (i) separating fibrous fraction from the juice, or (ii) using the pulp itself with its fibrous content.

In one embodiment, the pre-cooked food formulation of this invention comprises the ingredients containing dietary fiber added so as to achieve proportion of insoluble and soluble dietary fiber in a ratio of 0.25:0.75 or 0.75:0.25. The pre-cooked food formulation of claim 1 wherein the composition comprises biscuits/cookies/ any other baked product or a ready-to-drink beverage/ a concentrate of a beverage.

In another embodiment, the pre-cooked food formulation comprises, per 3 gram total dietary fiber, the calorie content of not more than 60 calories, more preferably not more than 36 calories, still more preferably not more than 4 calories.

This invention ^' also comprises a method of making a composition comprising at least insoluble dietary fiber, food additives and, optionally, soluble dietary fiber; wherein calories of the composition do not exceed 100 K calories per 3 gram total dietary fiber and the composition is a pre-cooked food formulation, the method comprising steps of: (a) preparing a mixture of (i) a mixture of edible fibrous ingredients providing insoluble dietary fiber and a gum or any edible adhesive, (ii) a cereal flour and (iii) sodium bicarbonate or a baking powder, (b) optionally adding fat, (c) adding condiments, salt or a sweetener and other excipients that can withstand baking temperature, (d) making a dough by adding water or a suitable watery medium and , moulding as biscuits or cookies, (c) baking in an oven at an elevated temperature for a period of time sufficient to make a biscuit or a cooky/cookie.

A method of making a composition of this invention comprising at least insoluble dietary fiber, food additives and, optionally, soluble dietary fiber; wherein calories of the composition do not exceed 100 K calories per 3 gram total dietary fiber and the composition is a pre-cooked food formulation, also comprises steps of: (a) preparing a mixture of (i) a mixture of edible fibrous ingredients providing insoluble dietary fiber, and optionally (ii) a gum or soluble fiber, and (iir) a cereal flour, (b) optionally adding fat, (c) parching the mixture, (d) adding condiments, salt or a sweetener and other excipients, (e) adding a meltable adhesive/binder, (f) heating and mixing the mixture to make a homogeneous mass, (g) pressing the same in suitable shape such as biscuits, and (h) allowing to cool.

In yet another embodiment of the method of this invention of making a composition comprising at least insoluble dietary fiber, food additives and, optionally, soluble dietary fiber; wherein calories of the composition do not exceed 100 K calories per 3 gram total dietary fiber and the composition is a pre-cooked human food formulation, the method comprises steps of: (a) dispersing the finely ground, cooked and softened insoluble dietary fiber source and optionally powdered soluble fiber source in water or a watery liquid (b) adding optionally one or more of sweeteners, edible salt, flavors, colour, thickeners, preservative, acidity regulators, fruit products and other or a watery liquid/excipients that improve preservative property, taste and other organoleptic properties.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is targeted to make pre-cooked food formulations high in dietary fiber for human consumption. However, the same can also be adapted for supplementing dietary fiber requirements of any monogastric animals such as cats, dogs, poultry, pigeons, other domesticated birds, or in aquaculture and they are also included within the scope of this invention.

Dietary fibers are of two types, insoluble dietary fiber and soluble dietary fiber; in terms of solubility in water. Both are required to be consumed every day by a human being to keep himself healthy. Whole grain cereals, fruits, nuts, fruits, vegetables of many types including green leafy vegetables are major sources of insoluble as well as soluble fibers. However, with emergence and preponderance of "fast Foods" that have become an integral part of fast life, fibers have diminished to a great extent from the food of many people, particularly in urban areas. The term "Dietary fiber" is still a subject of discussion for its rriost accurate definition. But there is a significant scientific acceptance to this term as defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission jointly formed by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization in its "Thirty second Session Rome, Italy, 29 June - 4 July 2009" on page 46 of its report entitled "REPORT OF THE 30th SESSION OF THE CODEX COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION AND FOODS FOR SPECIAL DIETARY USES Cape Town, South Africa 3 - 7 November 2008", available online at the link: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/report/710/al32_26 e.pdf; as "Dietary fibre means carbohydrate polymers ¹ with ten or more monomeric units ² , which are not hydrolysed by the endogenous enzymes in the small intestine of humans and belong to the following categories:

• Edible carbohydrate polymers naturally occurring in the food as consumed,

• carbohydrate polymers, which have been obtained from food raw material by physical, enzymatic or chemical means and which have been shown to have a physiological effect of benefit to health as demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence to competent authorities,

• synthetic carbohydrate polymers which have been shown to have a physiological effect of benefit to health as demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence to competent authorities

• Methods of Analysis for Dietary Fibre

→ To be agreed.

1 When derived from a plant origin, dietary fibre may include fractions of lignin and/or other compounds when associated with polysaccharides in the plant cell walls and if these compounds are quantified by the AOAC gravimetric analytical method for dietary fibre analysis : Fractions of lignin and the other compounds (proteic fractions, phenolic compounds, waxes, saponins, phytates, cutin, phytosterols, etc.) intimately "associated" with plant polysaccharides are often extracted with the polysaccharides in the- AOAC 991.43 method. These substances are included in the definition of fibre insofar as they are actually associated with the poly- or oligo-saccharidic fraction of fibre. However, when extracted or even re-introduced into a food containing non digestible polysaccharides, they cannot be defined as dietary fibre. When combined with polysacchrides, these associated substances may provide , additional beneficial effects (pending adoption of Section on Methods of Analysis and Sampling). 2 Decision on whether to include carbohydrates from 3 to 9 monomeric units should be left to national authorities."

Although final definition is country specific on whether or not to include carbohydrates from 3 to 9 monomeric units in the definition of Dietary Fiber the term "Dietary Fiber" is used in the field of nutrition in the context of food formulation, that food formulation is a human food formulation in particular or monogastric animal food formulation in general, and excludes feeds of animals who have rumen who can digest the edible carbohydrate polymers cell wall polysaccharides which are not hydrolysed by the endogenous enzymes in the small intestine of humans. Thus, For the purpose of this specification, the terms "dietary fiber" and "food formulation" are used only in the context of food of monogastric animals in general and of human being in particular. Thus, although the cattle feed formulations contain the ingredients defined and covered in the scope of the term "Dietary fiber", the compositions of matter which are cattle feeds are excluded from the scope of this specification, including claims. Deficiency of dietary fiber in human diet in the modern world is considered as a root cause of constipation, obesity and weight gain; from which arise rest of the "lifestyle diseases" including Type II diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, heart disease and cancer. Deficient consumption of insoluble and soluble fiber may arise, even in cases where the diets contain whole grain cereals and vegetables if the daily food consumption itself is low such as in the case of many low weight thin individuals and also in sedentary obese individuals. Diabetes and obesity are known as risk factors for hypertension, heart disease and stroke. High blood (total) cholesterol, more than 250 mg/dl increases risk of coronary artery disease. Some individuals are genetically predisposed to coronary artery disease or Type II diabetes. Presence of three or more of adverse factors simultaneously is termed as "Metabolic syndrome" wherein the risk of coronary artery disease is heightened to include even individuals who may not have reached the threshold of 250 mg/dl of total cholesterol level in blood. Since excess cholesterol is produced out of consumption of saturated fats in excess, decreased consumption of total fat and saturated fats is recommended for reducing blood cholesterol. Decreased consumption of total fat, saturated fat and total avoidance of trans-fats is recommended for decreasing risk of certain cancers. Although medicines are available for treating Type II diabetes and hypercholesterolemia, clinical recommendations are that before recommending a medicine, the patient should be made to adopt to "Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Program (TLC)" suggested by US FDA (see http;//www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public heart chol/chol_tlc.pdf ). It is likely that, if adapted at the beginning of lifestyle diseases, the patient may not need' medicine at all on adoption of such a program, in which case medicine should not be recommended to the patient. If there is still persistence of the adverse clinical parameter, such as high level of total cholesterol or high level of blood sugar, then medicine should be prescribed to control only that residual level that has persisted despite TLC. It is also pointed out that the efficacy of the medicines in such patients also increases by adoption of TLC. Thus TLC is considered indispensable, whether or not a medicine is prescribed.

TLC envisages low calorie consumption (i.e. a level of calorie consumption that does not stimulate weight gain in normal weight individual and leads to slow reduction in weight of overweight individual), but it is recommended that calorie consumption should never be less than 1200 K calories per day for women and 1600 K calories per day for men), the diet should be low in total fat and consumption of saturated fat should not exceed 10% of daily calories intake. Trans fat is recommended to be strictly avoided and consumption of adequate dietary fiber is recommended as a must and should contain insoluble dietary fiber as well as soluble dietary fiber. Adequate consumption of dietary fiber which has a proper balance of insoluble and soluble dietary fiber is a further intergral/essential requirement to achieve a healthy lifestyle change. Adequate dietary fiber with correct proportion of insoluble and soluble fiber is also considered to improve immunity of the body because it supports in colon a rich microflora of beneficial microorganisms that contributes to improving immune function in the body on one hand and does not allow pathogenic microorganisms to grow in colon on the other hand. This attribute is valuable to combat infections, particularly against the ever increasing threat of newer and newer drug resistant strains of bacterial and pathogenic microbes, so called "superbugs", of already known diseases in new forms for which anti-microbials are not available nor vaccines are available; such as newer multiple drug resistant or mutant pathogenic organisms or sometimes believed to be Total Drug Resistant causing Tuberculosis, Typhoid, Malaria; and newly emerging diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Dengue, Birds Flue, Chikungunya, hospital derived drug resistant upper respiratory tract infectionsetc. It is becoming clear that the innocuous dietary fiber, which by itself does not have any nutritive value nor any nutritive function is a very important factor that navigates digestion to a healthy path in so many different ways; not alone, but when, and only when, it is consumed with food, with every time food is consumed and when its content in food is optimum and when the proportion of insoluble and soluble fiber is also optimum. All this is possible only if one can plan and control how much fiber he is consuming and if he can ensure that the same is available with all the major meals.

Adequate dietary fiber intake is understood to be 25 to 35 grams of total fiber per day for adults and (age in years + 5) gram for children up to 15 years. Of the total fiber intake, at least 20-25% should be soluble fiber.

Although above dietary recommendation for diet correction look to be simple suggestions on paper, they are difficult to organize in practice and to comply with the same as a part of daily routine in the long run. A low calorie, iow fat, low in saturated fat, no trans-fat, high in fiber and proper balance of insoluble and soluble fiber is normally possible to be complied only if some one pursues it as a daily dedicated activity wherein the food sources are purchased from market based on detailed knowledge of their composition, the food is made at home and carried in lunch boxes for breakfast and lunch at work place. This is usually not feasible in modern life that is fast and where women also go to work. Commercial production of such foods to make them available ready-to-eat for people is practically non-existent because addition of substantial quantity of fat and improvement of organoleptic feel of the comemrcal products by removal of insoluble fiber are considered as unavoidable attributes/requirements by a commercial person skilled in the art of baking. Hence, there are commercially available food products that are high in dietary fiber and low in calories that are pre-cooked and ready-to-eat designed to provide correction to the dietary fiber deficiency in daily urban diet are not available in the market. There are, nevertheless some products labeled as "high fiber' available in the market, but they are far short of the quality requirement of a healthy product since they are associated with one or more un-healthy ingredients or are unbalanced. For example, there are products where 6 gram soluble fiber is offered as one single serving as a beverage, but it contains only soluble fiber; whereas the requirement is of soluble as well as insoluble fiber. A further shortcoming of such a product is that it shall serve as a supplement for only one meal, whereas the healthy action of dietary fiber is when they are consumed with food and not without food. Hence, each food should have adequate supplementation. Hence, 6 gram supplementation done once a day should actually be distributed pro-rata as 2 grams per meal for three major meals. This is not possible in that product which is packaged as a single 6 gram serving. When fiber gets mixed with the food during course of digestion; it slows down the rate of digestion as well as absorption of the glucose generating carbohydrates in the food, binds the cholesterol secreted in bile juice which gets irreversibly bound if lignin is present, provides bulk to stools and normalizes consistency of the stools. Soluble fiber, after reaching colon, can be used as a food by beneficial colon bacteria. The beneficial colon bacteria are believed to stimulate immune system of the body and also produce short chain fatty acids useful for down-regulating new cholesterol formation in the body. Thus, dietary fiber by itself independent of food does not have any nutritive value nor any health benefit but when it is component of the food that is consumed, it gives several health benefits. The health effect of fiber consumed with one meal cannot be passed on to another meal with which it is not physically associated. Similarly, there are some products recently made available as a flavored beverages with coffee flavor, contains Fructooligosaccharides, which are a soluble fiber and caffeine; no insoluble fiber. Further the supplements is associated with more than 100 calories per 3 gram fiber forcing one to consume large quantity of calories if he wants to consume the least quantity of fiber's supplement per day i.e. at least 6 grams per day, defeating the cause of consuming the fiber; further caffeine is better avoided in a healthy diet, There are also "High Fiber" labeled biscuits, many of whom do not satisfy the requirement of 6 g fiber/100 gram composition, and if exceptional ones satisfy this requirement, almost all of them have some total fat, usually about 20%, contain saturated fat, usually around about 9 to 10% and are associated with calories more than 100 per 3 gram fiber. As soon as fiber is associated with high quantity of total fat and something like 9% saturated fat, although content of fiber may be labeled as "High", its health benefits are nullified, rather counteracted, for the purpose of reducing the risk of Type II diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, coronary artery disease and cancers. It is indeed recommended that insoluble as well as soluble fiber be sourced by wise selection of food sources from market that includes fruits, fruity vegetables and fresh Green Leafy Vegetables. However, this is a very difficult task for at least two reasons: first is availability of time to purchase them every day and cooking the same; second reason is that fiber is usually in a very dilute quantity and a lot of volume/bulk of the source of fiber is required to be eaten to ensure consumption of adequate quantity of the fiber; still further, all these food sources add to calories that may have to be consumed with them. This finding is not surprising given the fact that a person skilled in the art of baking finds that baking is possible only if about 20% of total fat and about 9% saturated fat is used as ingredients of the biscuits/cookies to be manufactured. Ensuring proper balance of insoluble and soluble fiber through normal food sources every day is a very difficult task. That is precisely why TLC programs have been seen to be a non-starter in most of the cases or are not complied with as a routine part of life. Inventive high fiber instant soups that are free from added fat, free from saturated and trans-fat and providing less than 100 calories per 3 gram fiber have also been prepared by these inventors. They have been found effective for lowering cholesterol from 251 mg/dl per day in one person to 230 mg/dl in 30 days by consuming 24 gram solids of the soups powder per meal for three meals per day accounting to supplementation of a total of 14 gram fiber per day, half of which is insoluble and rest half soluble. However, in regular use, for an office going person and the one who encounters frequent travelling outstation, compliance shall be difficult because preparing the soup by boiling at out-station place is not practical. Hence, there is a need for new compositions and new technology that shall make it possible to commercially manufacture pre-cooked, ready-to-eat or ready-to-drink, high fiber food supplement products that have reasonably long shelf life, are organoleptically acceptable in general, have adequate insoluble dietary fiber without exception but associated with least possible calories so thai their introduction in daily diet does not require major curtailment in consumption of other calorie containing food sources for achieving supplementation of 6 gram per day or more and can be consumed ready-to-eat as such or, when they are concentrates of a beverage, after diluting with a suitable drinking fluid. The drinking fluid may be, without limitation, any one or more of water, buttermilk, curd, diluted and spiced curd (Lass/),fruit juice etc.

It was surprising that baked products could be produced that have, on air dry basis (about 5% moisture or less), 24% total dietary fiber, major part of which is insoluble fiber and rest is soluble fiber that have no added fat, no saturated fat and no trans fat. The embodiments of baked products of this invention includes biscuits and/or cookies. Of course, if desired, some fat can be added within the limitation of the formulation not exceeding 100 calories per 3 gram total dietary fiber within the spirit of the benchmark of European Food Safety Authority "A claim that a food is high in fibre, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains at least 6 g of fibre per 100 g or at least 3 g of fibre per 100 kcal." as given in "REGULATION (EC) No 1924/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods" as downloaded from the link http://eur- lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_404/l_40420061230 en00090025.pdf However, for the function of the fiber for adsorption of cholesterol in the digestive tract, if the added fiber is free from fats, that is most desirable, since with addition of fat in the recipe itself, the cholesterol adsorption capacity would get diminished, since binding sites of the fiber may already get saturated with fats.

In one embodiment of this invention, the fiber ingredients of baked products of this invention includes fiber derived as a fraction of Green Leafy vegetables. The said fiber from Green Leafy Vegetables is derived as a part of powder of green leafy vegetable incorporated as an ingredient in the making of the baked products of this invention; or in the alternative, the green leafy vegetable is pulped, and either the pulp used whole or juice is removed from fibrous residue and the fibrous residue is dried after water wash or without water wash, the dried fibrous residue, if powdered, may also be used as a dietary fiber rich ingredient. The baked products of this invention may be made with or without the fiber extracted from Green Leafy Vegetables. However, when the baked products of this invention incorporate fiber from Green Leafy Vegetables, they are a further embodiments of this invention. No baked products are known that have green leafy vegetable fiber as an ingredient. Particularly, no baked products are known that have fiber extracted from Green Leafy vegetables as an ingredient. Fibers from Green Leafy Vegetables are long, they may also be branched and having large surface area. Their properties with respect to influencing rate of digestion, adsorption of cholesterol and ability to impede diffusion of glucose liberated during digestion and its absorption by intestinal walls are bound to be different than the particulate fibers of bran or seed coat. These properties are important in terms of ability of fibers to slow down rate of release of glucose from the food during digestion i.e. lowering of glycemic index of food, providing further resistance to absorption of the released glucose by the intestinal walls and adsorption of cholesterol and retaining adsorbed cholesterol due to lignin deposits in/on the fiber of Green Leafy Vegetables. The Green Leafy Vegetable may also be replaced by any other plant species that has edible Green Leafy Vegetation or, exceptionally if there are reasons for such use, by fiber from toxic Green Leafy Vegetation that can be made toxin free.

Baked products of this invention could be made sweet tasting when sweeteners that can withstand baking temperature are added. The sweeteners may include sucrose, other sugars, sugar alcohols and artificial or natural high intensity sweeteners such as Sucralose, Stevia, Stevioside, Rebaudioside etc.

Baked products of this invention can also be salty when salt is added to it. The salt may be common salt, rock salt or a low-sodium salt.

Since the baked products of this invention are amenable to large scale manufacture, packaging and selling through marketing channels and easy to carry to workplace, they shall make dietary fiber supplementation an easy task to achieve since they can be consumed at breakfast, lunch as well as dinner pro-rata with the quantity of food eaten at respective times where it would be able to mathematically control/know the quantity of insoluble and soluble fiber eaten to ensure that the same is at least 6 gram per day, the same will be evenly distributed over the entire day with each major food intake, ensuring that every time there shall be intake of insoluble as well as soluble fiber intake. If necessary, wherein the target of cholesterol reduction and/or blood sugar reduction and/or anti-constipation is such that the dietary fiber supplementation requirement goes up to 14 grams per day, that shall also be possible to be provided through consumption of the biscuits or cookies of this invention.

The baked products of this invention can also be prepared by addition of a low quantity of fat or fatty acids or derivatives of fatty acids that are unsaturated or polyunsaturated or long chain polyunsaturated. The unsaturated fat or fatty acids or derivatives of unsaturated fatty acids that may be added in low quantity in baked products of this invention may preferably include olive oil, flax seed oil, microbial oils including oil from algae and fungi, alpha linolenic acid, linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, Ecospantenoic acid, Docosahexaenoic acid, walnut oil etc. The baked products of this invention may also be prepared with a low quantity of saturated fats. The saturated fats in such cases could preferably be derived from milk, such as cow's milk and butter.

These biscuits and cookies of this invention are produced against the established concepts / assertion of persons skilled in the art of baking that such biscuits and cookies cannot be produced unless at least some fat is added with optional aids such as milk powders etc. for the purpose of giving adequate binding capacity to the dough for convenient handling during steps of manufacture and smoothness to the final baked product. Without being bound to the theory, it is considered that the biscuits and cookies of this invention could be produced successfully without adding, fats or any other aids because of the gums added as soluble fiber to the recipe which provided enough binding property to the compositions to enable handling of the dough during process of manufacture so that the wet mass can be handled before baking and the composition does not crumble easily and retains shape after baking. Further, the insoluble fiber component may be responsible to give a property that counteracts the property of the dough of the biscuit or the cookie to become rubbery during baking and tough and provided property of easy disintegration on chewing and wetting. , A similar binding without the need of adding fats is also possible by using alternatives such as heat melting binders/adhesives, such as Polyethylene glycol. The high fiber food mix may be added with such a meltable binder, mixed well with accompanied with heating, pressing in desired shapes, preferably as biscuits, and cooling them. In the following is described an account of illustration of working of this invention, wherein the ingredients and their proportions are illustrative and not limiting the scope of the invention. Any mention of singular also encompassed pleural unless the context does not permit. Thus mention of "a raising agent" covers all raising agents that can be used in the alternative or in combination with each other. All equivalents and alternatives obvious to a person of an ordinary skill in the art are also considered to be covered by the disclosure of this invention in this specification.

In an illustration a dough was prepared by adding water to a 30g mix of high fiber ingredients insoluble as well as soluble fiber mix, which was added to 45g of whole wheat flour. This proportion can be varied as per requirement of high fiber product. Insoluble fiber was derived partly from bran of whole wheat or from flax seed condiment ingredients and major part from Fenugreek green leafy vegetable. The insoluble fiber from Fenugreek green leafy vegetable was obtained by pulping the fresh green leafy vegetable followed by pressing out the juice, the fibrous residue was washed with water, dried and pulverized in a hammer mill. Soluble fiber was added in the form of Gum Arabic. A part of soluble fiber was also derived from small quantity of whole as well as powdered flax-seed added to the dough. Adding flaxseed is optional and not a mandatory step. Gum Arabic can also be partly or wholly replaced by any other soluble fiber. The fibrous residue of Fenugreek can be replaced by fibrous residue of any other green leafy vegetable or by edible green leafy vegetation of any plant species, or from plant species which can be de-toxified by a process if the same has any toxic element. Spices and condiments were ground and 10g were added to above mix. Salt was added to give a salty taste to the preparation to a salty biscuits or cookies; or sugar was added to give sweet taste to the biscuits or cookies. When sugar was added, it was about 25% on dry weight basis of the whole composition; and when salt was added, it was about 15% on dry weight basis of the whole composition. The proportion of sugar and salt can be varied according to the requirements and their taste-equivalent alternatives can also be added to partly or wholly replace sucrose, as long as they can tolerate the baking temperature, such as High Fructose Com Syrup, high intensity sweeteners (including Sucralose, Stevia, Stevioside, Rebaudioside etc.), non-nutritive sweeteners etc. A raising agent was also added. Baking powder was used in this instance as raising agent. The dough was moulded as biscuits or cookies and baked in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15-20 min. The crispy biscuits or cookies formed after baking step were packed after cooling. Per 100 gram, the sweet biscuits or cookies on above experiment contained 306 calories and 21.06 gram total dietary fiber, of which 12 gram was soluble fiber and 9.8 gram insoluble fiber. Per 100 gram, salty biscuits or cookies contained 296.6 gram calories and 23.04 gram total dietary fiber, of which 8.9 gram was soluble and 14. 4 gram insoluble fiber. The biscuits or cookies thus prepared were acceptably tasty. Thus, these products had either 43.5. or 38.5 calories per 3 gram dietary fiber. This low content of calories per gram fiber gives excellent and most valuable opportunity to make required supplementation of dietary fiber without consumption of significant quantity of additional calories and without association of fats, saturated or otherwise, with it. Being biscuits and cookies, they can be packaged, carried to workplace or in long distance travel to ensure compliance to required dietary fiber supplement consumption with every major meal.

Artificial or natural flavors, artificial or natural colors, dry fruits or such permitted color and flavor enhancers and palatability enhancers can also be added to the high fiber baked products of this invention.

Normally, insoluble fiber, being an absolutely insoluble and unpalatable ingredient, was in the past, before this invention, never considered as an ingredient of a drink beverage. Rather, when preparing fruit juice, fiber is categorically separated and discarded. There are drinks in the market labeled as "High fiber", however, all fiber they contain is a soluble fiber. As explained above, it is ideal to make supplementation of soluble as well as insoluble fiber because soluble fiber does not give anti-constipating health benefit, and insoluble fiber is not as effective as soluble fiber in its effect on lowering blood cholesterol and lowering blood sugar by various mechanisms. Hence, although inconceivable in the field of beverages at the relevant time of this invention, a drink containing insoluble fiber as one of the main ingredients was desirable.

It was surprising that a high fiber drink could be prepared that contains insoluble fiber as one of the main ingredients. This was prepared by fine grinding of the insoluble dietary fiber ingredient. Fine grinding was achieved either by dry powdering in domestic electric grinder-mixer, or by wet grinding of the insoluble fiber on abrasive surfaces such as that as a mortar and pestle to a fine paste. Processes such as ball milling also give significant reduction in average particle size. The dry fine powder or the wet ground paste could be added to a drink that is fluid, thickened with fruit solids and/or thickeners and provided, if required, with a flavor. Wet grinding particularly provided a paste of a superior consistency for a drink; but dry ground powder was also acceptably good as the next best insoluble dietary fiber ingredient. Wheat bran and fibrous residue of Fenugreek leafy vegetable were used for illustrations of insoluble fiber, which can be used alone or as mixtures. Cooking of the fibrous ingredient improved quality of ground product in terms of fineness and uniformity. The fibrous residue from Fenugreek vegetation gave softer and better palatable fiber. Fibrous residue of Fenugreek plant was prepared by wet pulping the green leafy vegetable, pressing the juice out from the pulp leaving behind the fibrous residue, washing the fibrous residue with water and then wet grinding the fibrous residue to pass though a mesh. Mesh size depended on the desired fineness of the fiber. The resulting fine particulate paste of fiber suspended well in moderately thick fluid and was palatable as a drink when adequately sweetened and agreeably flavored. This drink shall be a very useful tool to add to diet known and measured amount of fiber with each major meal.

In place of wheat bran, any other cereal bran such as Oat bran could be used; and in place of Fenugreek, any other plant species that has edible leaves could have been used in this work. .

To prepare a high-fiber drink, a mixture of insoluble fiber components was prepared by mixing fibrous residue of Fenugreek Green Leafy Vegetable made as described above and wheat bran and was wet ground as described above. This paste and a soluble fiber, such as Gum Arabic or Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) or both was added to water to give various concentrations and proportions of insoluble fiber : soluble fiber ratio, fruit powder was added to achieve desired thickness, sugar was added to the drink, orange flavor was added and Sodium Benzoate was added as preservative. Sweeteners could be replaced with suitable alternatives such as other sugars, sugar alcohols, artificial high intensity sweeteners, honey, High Fructose Corn Syrup either alone or in combination. Preservatives other than Sodium Benzoate could be added such as, without limitation, sulphur dioxide, Sodium Metabisulphite, Propyl Paraben, Potassium Sorbate etc.

In an illustrative formulation, 45 g dry fibrous residue obtained from Green vegetable processing containing 24.33 g of dietary fiber was added to 146 g of dry powdered wheat bran. The whole mixture was wetted by adding water and pressure cooked in domestic pressure cooker, i.e. at 121 degree centigrade at 15 psi for half an hour. To the cooled mixture 141 g of gum acacia containing 120 gram soluble fiber was added. Form this mixture, 113 gram of fiber mixture was taken, to this 150 gram banana powder was added and 250 mg of sucralose was added, To this water added to make 800 ml syrupy liquid. To this sodium benzoate was added as preservative. In 100 ml of this syrupy liquid, total dietary fiber was 13.9 gram; of which insoluble fiber is 7.1 g and soluble fiber is 6.9 g. The drink was very much tasty and palatable in spite of presence of 7g of insoluble fiber in 100 ml of drink.

The batches in which fruit powder was not added or the fruit powder did not give adequate thickness, addition of Carboxym ethyl Cellulose (CMC) was required to an extent enough to give desired thickness and stability against segregation of the liquid mix into different layers.

In another illustrative experiment Orange powder and Garcinia fruit pulp was added. This also tasted delicious. It is also possible to envisage to make the above described high fiber beverage salty by adding common salt or Rock Salt in place of a sweetener and further spicy by adding spices. It is also possible to use fruit juice, buttermilk, diluted spiced curd (Lassi) in place of water for making the beverage. As per requirement of the high fiber composition of this invention the dietary fiber may be derived from any one or more of dietary fiber sources selected from a group consisting of wheat bran, flax seed cake, pea fiber, beans fiber, Oat fiber, apple fiber, fresh/dried green leafy vegetable/vegetation, fiber rich fraction of green leafy vegetable prepared by pulping the fresh green leafy vegetable followed by separating juice from fiber rich fraction, or crop residues, gum Arabic, Xanthan gum, Guar gum, Fructooligosaccharises, Gellan gum, Maltodextrin, microcrystalline cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and Carboxymethyl Cellulose etc.

The sweeteners that may be used comprise, a nutritive sweetener or non-nutritive sweetener or a high intensity sweetener that can withstand further processing conditions. These may include, without limitation, one or more of a sweetener selected from the group consisting of High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sucralose, Stevia, Stevioside, Rebaudioside or any other sweetener that can withstand further processing conditions of the final food formulation intended to be consumed,

The salt to be used may comprise, without limitation, one or more common salt, rock salt or edible low-sodium salt and the like.