Insights into the Structural and Nutritional Variations in Soluble Dietary Fibers in Fruits and Vegetables Influenced by Food Processing Techniques

Fruits and vegetables represent important dietary sources of soluble dietary fiber (SDF), a functionally essential component that contributes substantially to human health maintenance. The molecular structure of SDFs in fruits and vegetables is influenced by food processing techniques, which can contribute to improving the physiological activities of SDFs and promoting health benefits. This article presents a systematic review of the effects of common processing methods mainly involving drying, heating, powdering, fermentation, etc., on the structural and nutritional properties of SDFs, particularly focused on structural changes in molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, and functional groups, as well as nutritional functions including obesity prevention, hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic properties, etc. Processing-induced structure variations in SDFs inevitably change their fermentability and gelling ability, promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and the production of short-chain fatty acids, enhance immunity, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. This highlights the prebiotic efficacy and metabolic disease intervention potential of processing methods to moderate SDFs by altering their structure. This paper comparatively summarizes the effects of physical, physicochemical, and biological processing technologies on the common structural and nutritional properties of SDFs, aiming to provide theoretical guidance for the application of SDFs in the food industry. This paper not only provides a theoretical basis for the precise application of SDFs in functional foods but also reveals the potential mechanisms involved in regulating the structure of SDFs through processing technology to achieve nutritional intervention in metabolic diseases, which is an important guiding value for the development of food ingredients with specific health effects.