Just the fiber facts.

"By 9 a.m., you could get half your daily requirement of fiber by eating five large Shredded Wheat Biscuits or just one bowl of Kellogg's All-Bran with Extra Fiber," boasts the TV ad.

Only one problem: Experts don't want people to just chalk up the grams until they hit the magic 35.

"We can't say, 'Eat these three biscuits every day and you'll be fine,'" says Gail McKeown-Eyssen of the University of Toronto. It's "an eating pattern heavily based on vegetables, fruits, and cereals ...that may reduce the risk of disease."

In other words, eat enough beans, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits to reach your 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day.

But before you embark on a label-reading frenzy, there are some things you should know about those nifty fiber numbers that are now on all food labels.

* They're not always accurate. Fiber isn't a single thing--it's a hodgepodge of substances, including celluloses, hemicelluloses, lignins, pectins, and more. That makes it tough to extract fiber from foods. And to be practical, the laboratory analysis approved by the Food and Drug Administration had to be quick.

As a result, the dietary fiber number on labels "will be five to 25 percent higher than what's probably there," says Judith Marlett, a fiber expert at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Numbers for soluble and insoluble fiber--which are on some labels--are even more iffy, she adds.

What's more, even the best laboratory test has its limits. How could you expect technicians to duplicate what's left after the acids and enzymes in the human gut get through with a food?

"Our digestive system is dynamic," says Marlett. "You can't mimic it in a test tube."

* Some fibers lose their impact as they're processed out of natural foods. It's not universally true. Processing has less impact on the fiber in oats, psyllium, and gums, for example.

But watch out for prepared cellulose. It's an "altered substance that bears no relation to whole foods," said Peter Van Soest, a fiber expert at Cornell University, at an FDA conference last May. "Its effect on the body is entirely different."

Even a prepared cellulose might help fight constipation, but not as much as an equal amount of wheat bran, says Marlett. Unfortunately, food labels rarely list "cellulose" as an ingredient.

Take "light" breads. With five to six grams of fiber in every two slices, they seem awfully impressive. Ordinary whole wheat has only four grams.

But check out those ingredients. "Light" breads are really made of white flour with added "soy fiber," "oat fiber," or "vegetable fiber." Most companies wouldn't tell us how processed the added fiber is, but we suspect it's like Roman Meal's. The company's added soy fiber, according to a spokesperson, is "fiber that's processed to remove the non-cellulosic components." In other words, it's prepared cellulose.

That's no surprise. Companies used to add cellulose from wood pulp (until consumers balked at the idea of eating sawdust). Whatever fiber they're now adding, you can be sure it's heavily processed. Why else would their spongy loaves taste like white bread?

Your best bet: when it comes to bread, stick with whole wheat.

* Look for health claims. "Lowfat diets rich in fiber-containing grain products, fruits, and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer...," says the label of Wheatena cereal.

That's a "health claim," because the label mentions a disease (cancer). The FDA also allows health claims for heart disease and fiber-rich foods.

Find those claims and you find more than fiber. To make a claim about cancer or heart disease, a food must be low in fat and not high in sodium.

What's more, to make a fiber and heart disease claim, the food has to be a good source of soluble fiber--at least 0.6 grams per serving. That's good to know, since labels don't have to list soluble fiber.

So far, the FDA only allows health claims on foods with naturally occurring fiber, including breads with added bran.

"Our concern is: What if companies add bran to Coca-Cola or Godiva chocolate?" says the FDA's Christine Lewis. "Then the company would have to ask us to approve a health claim for the fiber per se."

* Use fiber to get a handle on ingredients. The fiber numbers on a label can help you guess how many beans or whole grains or how much other fiber-rich food you're getting. Take Nabisco Harvest Crisps 5-Grain Crackers. The one measly gram of fiber in each serving (13 crackers) makes that "5-grain" stuff a little less impressive.

FINDING FIBER

Although most experts recommend 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day, there's no reason not to go for the 50 or 60 grams you'd get in a low-fat vegetarian diet.

Use the chart on page 11 to find fiber and avoid fat. (We've marked foods with more than three grams of fat.)

To be a "good source" of fiber, a food must have at least 2.5 grams of it. "High fiber" foods need 5 grams or more. Foods with at least 0.6 grams of soluble fiber are marked with an asterisk (*).

Beans & Tofu

                                       Fiber (g)

Health Valley Real Italian
 Minestrone Soup (1 c.)(*)                    11
Pritikin Split Pea Soup (1 c.)(*)             10
Beans (1/2 c., cooked)(*)                    5-8
Lentils (1 c., cooked)(*)                      7
Progresso Healthy Classics
 Lentil Soup (1 c.)(*)                         6
Campbell's Black Bean Soup (1 c.)(1)           5
Green Giant Harvest Burger (1)(2)              5
Progresso Split Pea Soup (1 c.)(*)             5
Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, firm (3 oz.)              0

Cereals

                                         Fiber (g)

Kellogg's All-Bran with
 Extra Fiber (1/2 c.)                           15
General Mills Fiber One (1/2 c.)(*)             13
Kellogg's Bran Buds (1/3 c.)(*)                 11
Kellogg's All-Bran (1/2 c.)(*)                  10

Nabisco 100% Bran (1/3 c.)(*)                    8
Post Raisin Bran (1 c.)(*)                       8
Kellogg's Fruitful Bran (1 1/4 c.)               6
Nabisco Shredded Wheat (2)                       6
Quaker Oat Bran Cereal (1 c., ckd.)(*)           6
Ralston 100% Whole Grain
 Wheat Chex (3/4 c.)(*)                          5
Wheatena (1 c., cooked)(1)                       5
Quaker Quick Oats (1 c., cooked)(*)              4
Quaker 100% Natural Low Fat
 Granola (1/2 c.)(*)                             4
Total (3/4 c.) or Wheaties (1 c.)                3
Kretschmer Wheat Germ (1 1/2 Tbs.)               2
Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Product 19,
 Rice Krispies, or Special K (1 c.)              1

Fruits & Juices

                                             Fiber (g)

Apple (1) or Pear (1)(*)                            4
Apricots, dried (1/3 c.)(1)                         4
Blueberries, raw (1 c.)                             4
Figs, dried (2)(1)                                  4
Apple, without skin (1)                             3
Banana (1)(*) or Orange (1)(*)                      3
Cherries (1 c.)(1) or Prunes, dried (5)(1)          3
Strawberries (1 c.)(*)                              3
Grapefruit (1/2)(1)                                 2
Grapes (1 1/2 c.) or Plums (2)                      2
Nectarine (1)(*) or Peach (1)(1)                    2
Cantaloupe (1 c.)(1)                                1
Orange juice (1 c.)(1)                              1
Watermelon (2 c.)                                   1

Grains & Pasta

(Numbers are for cooked food.)

                                 Fiber (g)

Barley (1 c.)(1) or Bulgur (3/4 c.)(1)   6
Gardenburger (1)(*)                      5
Aunt Jemima Buckwheat
 Pancake Mix (4 4"-pancakes)(2)          4
Brown rice (2/3 c.)                      3
Couscous, Macaroni(*), or
 Spaghetti (1 c.)                        2
White rice (2/3 c.)(1)                   1

Vegetables

(Serving size: 1/2 cup, cooked.)

                                        Fiber (g)

Green peas(1)                                   4
Potato, baked, with skin (1)(*)                 4
Sweet potato, baked, with skin (1)(1)           4
Carrots(1)                                      3
Asparagus or Broccoli                           2
Cabbage(1) or Spinach(1)                        2
Carrots, raw, or Corn kernels                   2
Cauliflower or Green beans(1)                   2
Lettuce, romaine (1 1/2 c.)(1)                  2
Celery, raw, or Green pepper, raw               1
Lettuce, iceberg (1 1/2 c.)(1)                  1
Mushrooms, raw (1 c.)(1)                        1
Tomato, fresh, raw (1/2)(1)                     1
Cucumber, sliced, raw                           0

Breads

(Serving size: two slices. Bigger slices help explain why some breads have more fiber--or fat--than others.)

                                    Fiber (g)

Arnold/Brownberry Bran'nola
 Original or Hearty Wheat(1)(2)             6
Oroweat Light 100% Whole Wheat(1)           6
Wonder Light Wheat or 9-Grain(1)            6
Pita, whole wheat (1)(1)                    5
Roman Meal Light White or Wheat(1)          5
Arnold Oatmeal(1)                           4
Roman Meal 100% Whole Wheat(1)              5
Wonder 100% Whole Wheat(1)                  4
Tortilla, whole wheat (1)                   3
Arnold Pumpernickel(1)                      2
Pepp. Farm Jewish Seeded Rye(1)             2
Roman Meal Sandwich(1)                      2
Pita(1) or Tortilla, white flour (1)        1
White(1), French(1), or Vienna(1) bread     1

Crackers & Snack Foods

(Serving size: one ounce. The number of crackers, etc., in an ounce is in parentheses.)

                                     Fiber (g)

Wasa Fiber Plus Crispbread (3)(*)            9
Wasa Hearty Rye Crispbread (3)(*)            7
Wasa Multigrain Crispbread (3)(*)            6
Health Valley Fruit Bars (1)(*)              4
Nabisco Wheat'n Bran
 Triscuits (7)(1)(2)                         4
No-Oil Tortilla Chips (15-20)(1)           2-4
Whole Wheat Matzos (1)(1)                    4
Health Valley Granola Bar (1)(*)             3
Nabisco Wheat Thins (16)(1)(2)               2
Archway Oatmeal Cookies (1)(1)               1
Nature Valley Lowfat Chewy
 Granola Bar (1)(1)                          1
Quaker Rice Cakes (1)(1)                     0

(*)Contains at least 0.6 grams of soluble fiber.

(1)Soluble fiber information not available.

(2)Contains between four and six grams of fat.

Sources: Manufacturers; USDA Handbook 8; Journal of the American Dietetic Association 92: 175, 1992; and Cereal Chemistry 71:99, 1994. Nutrition Action intern Gerri Baer gathered the information for this chart.

* The use of information from this chart for commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission from CSPI.