Fruits are
unarguably one of the main sources of dietary fiber, but are regional Amazonian
fruits sources of dietary fiber? The objective of the present study was to
assess the nutritional characteristics and
fiber contents of fresh fruits with low energy density. The study fruits wereabiu,
bacuri, carambola, ingá-cipó, mapati, and taperebá
acquired from the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and
collected along kilometers 08 and 60 of highway BR174, AM-Brasil. Ash, protein,
lipid, carbohydrate, energy and fiber contents were determined three times. The
six fruits have very small and significantly different protein contents (p <
0.05). Taperebá and mapati presented the highest (4.65 g) and lowest (0.84 g)
fiber contents, respectively. Except for abiu (0.49 g), the low lipid contents
of the study fruits confirmed their low energy density. The soluble fiber
content of the fruits was generally low, being highest in taperebá (1.51 g).
The insoluble fiber fraction prevailed in all six study fruits, with taperebá
and mapati presenting the highest (3.14 g) and lowest (0.65 g) insoluble fiber
contents, respectively. The dietary fiber contents show that the study fruits
can contribute to the composition of diets with appropriate dietary fiber
contents and low energy densities.