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Polydextrose is a randomly bonded polysaccharide produced by the bulk melt polycondensation of glucose and sorbitol in vacuo. It has been used as a bulking and texturizing agent and soluble fiber ingredient in many food products worldwide for over two decades. Because of its atypical linkages between glucose moieties, polydextrose resists digestion by mammalian gastrointestinal enzymes. It is minimally absorbed in the small intestine and partially fermented in the large intestine producing volatile fatty acids, with approximately 50% of the ingested dose being excreted undigested. In this it is similar to many other poorly digested soluble fiber ingredients. Numerous energy balance and isotope-label disposition studies have been conducted in animals and man to investigate the caloric availability of polydextrose. The weight of available experimental evidence in the 14 studies described herein shows that polydextrose has a caloric value of approximately 1 kcal/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]