The Englyst method is the laboratory method of determining the amount of fibre in a food by measuring its polysaccharides — the chemical approach to dietary fibre associated with the nutritionist Hans Englyst. Instead of the older crude-fibre weighing, the method uses enzymes to digest away starch, then measures the remaining non-starch polysaccharides by chromatography, separating them into soluble and insoluble fractions. The result is a precise, chemically defined fibre value — the non-starch polysaccharide content — that underpins fibre labelling in the UK and much nutrition research. It excludes lignin and resistant starch, which other definitions count, so Englyst fibre figures run lower than total-dietary-fibre values from rival methods. The method’s legacy is a generation of fibre data built on chemistry rather than on what survives a sieve.