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I have come to know fiber as either insoluble fiber, which doesn't disolve completely in water, and therefore doesn't make a homogenous solution, or soluble fiber, which does dissolve but also gels up.

I have known for a while a drink that considers itself to be a fiber drink; however, it's completely homogenous and liquid (not a gel). So my question is, can this actually be a fiber drink? from the definitions I mentioned above! I am curious because there is a recipe that asks for this specific type of drink, and I am wondering if I could use a different kind of fiber drink. I am wondering how this type of fiber drink is different than others.

If you are wondering what the drink is, the name is called Miero Fiber (미에로화이바). It is a Korean drink.

miero fiber

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  • Here's an ad in English (sortof), including nutritional info (sortof).
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:01
  • That is why I am trying to figure out if it actual does have fiber in it. I don't care about the weight-loss claim. This is Korea, and I don't know about their "FDA". Sorry they don't have V8 here.
    – Christopher Rucinski
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:42
  • Hello Christopher, I'm afraid that nutrition, healthiness and the physiological effects of food on your body are completely off topic on our site. So I had to remove the parts of your question which referenced this. I know that it makes potential answers much less useful to you, but we do not handle questions of how food "works" for losing weight or similar, because this is terrible flamewar fodder, and answers to such questions are rarely reliable.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 13:42
  • @rumtscho I was not asking anything about how foods work for losing weight? What are you talking about?
    – Christopher Rucinski
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 13:46
  • @ChristopherRucinski your original question talked about fiber "working" to reduce your appetite by gelling water. I assumed that you mean that the purpose is weight loss because this is the context in which I have heard this theory, but maybe this was too quick an assumption. Anyway, whatever happens to fibre after you ate it (swelling or anything else) is off topic, so I removed that part. You can see in the edit history what is missing from the question.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 14:02

2 Answers 2

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Think soluble fiber. The following excerpt from WebMD explains very well the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber and lists foods where each can be found.

Soluble vs. Insoluble Fiber

Soluble fiber dissolves in water. Insoluble fiber does not. [...]

Soluble fibers attract water and form a gel. [...]

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  • Just to add: According to the PFD I linked to above, the fiber in Miero is polydextrose, which is synthesized from glucose and sorbitol. Here's another interesting little article about polydextrose, from Slate
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:17
  • @Jolenealaska Very good info. And thanks for the edit.
    – Cindy
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:31
  • @Jolenealaska Where is the source that Miero Fiber uses polydextrose? I also looked at the Wikipedia page you listed, and it states that polydextrose is frequently used to increase the **non-dietary fiber** content of food. In all the English ads I have seen for Miero Fiber, it specifically states it uses dietary fiber. Contrary to what you said??
    – Christopher Rucinski
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:38
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    @ChristopherRucinski It's in their brochure, which I linked to in the comment to the OP. 2nd ingredient "Polydextrose (dietary fiber 70%)" I don't understand the "3.551%" immediately following.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:45
  • @ChristopherRucinski Read the Slate article. I they're saying it pretty well.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 11:59
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After some research into this, I think I have found an answer that is more satisfactory than the answer in comments that were made before.

Going Over the Questions

Can Miero Fiber actually be a fiber drink?

  • Yes, it can be considered a fiber drink. It does contain dietary fiber called Polydextrose. This is a soluble fiber - which is why it is a homogenous solution - all the fiber has been dissolved in the water.

Original View

(1) a substance that is, at the very least, hard for the human digestive system to digest

  • This type of fiber is Insoluble fiber. It does not dissolve in water, and it can be inert metabolically - meaning it passes through your body almost un-phased. These also tend to accelerate the movement of food in the digestive system.

3rd View

It does not gel because it is a synthetic fiber called polydextrose; keyword - synthetic. It is actually a multi-purpose ingredient synthesized from glucose which is also called dextrose. It is an ingredient that mimics properties of fiber, is used to replace sugar, and reduces calorie and other fats.

Since it mimics soluble fiber, it can be called fiber, but it does not gel up because it is synthetic - not natural.

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  • It's not entirely clear to me that this is actually a third type of fiber. Natural soluble fiber isn't really strong gelling agent; I think it'll gel up in sufficiently high concentrations, but if you just have a bit of soluble oat fiber in water, it'll be quite liquid. So while it's possible polydextrose has different properties, I don't really see any evidence of it here. It may just not be being used in the really high concentrations it'd take to thicken the liquid. The fact that it's synthetic doesn't necessarily mean different physical properties from natural soluble fiber.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Aug 11, 2014 at 14:37
  • (And based on the breakdown in the PDF Jolenealaska linked to, this drink only has at most a gram of fiber per 100mL, really not that much, so I wouldn't expect it to produce a noticeable physical effect on the liquid.)
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Aug 11, 2014 at 14:39

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