Tag: Indigestible material

According to research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, only about 5% of the US population consumes the recommended amount of fiber daily. This essential, but often overlooked, nutrient is what is the indigestible material known as, and it plays a critical role in overall health, despite not being absorbed for energy.

Established in 1864, crude fibre analysis was an early method used to assess the indigestible portion of plant-based foods. So, what is meant by crude fibre, and how does this historical term compare to modern dietary fibre concepts and its applications today in fields like animal feed?

While paper has a measured combustion energy of approximately 3,226 kcal per kilogram when burned, it's a common and dangerous misconception that this translates to usable energy for humans. So, **what is the caloric value of paper** from a nutritional standpoint? The unequivocal answer is zero, as our bodies are not equipped to digest and absorb the energy from this material.

Paper is primarily made of cellulose, a dietary fiber that the human body cannot digest, making its nutritional caloric value effectively zero for us. This common misconception leads to a fascinating exploration of our digestive system's limitations and the biological reasons why a piece of paper contains no usable calories for human consumption.