Dietary fiber preparations of "cellan" type were prepared from apples, white cabbage, sugar beet pulp, soy hulls and wheat bran by treatment with amylolytic and proteolytic enzymes as well as by chemical extractions. Scanning electron microscopic examinations show different morphological structures of the preparations and a high maintenance of native biomolecular superstructure. The content of pectin, protein, polysaccharide-hexoses and -pentoses and the composition of monosaccharides (also after their treatment with 4 or 8% sodium hydroxide) were determined. The cellans possess waterbinding capacities (WBC) between < 10 and > 25 g H2O/g and waterholding capacities between < 10 and > 50 g H2O/g. The WBC is related to the internal surface; it diminishes after treatment with NaOH. The interactions between the cellans and the adsorbed water were characterized by NMR-spin-lattice relaxation time T1. The molecular mobility increases as the water content grows. The T1-values of dried cellans decreased with increasing degree of moisture before drying. The supermolecular structure is comparatively disordered. Only in case of soy cellan a crystalline cellulose-I-modification could be identified by X-ray-diffraction pattern, esp. after NaOH treatment. The low degree of order of cellans was observed in the 13C-NMR spectra, too. Only the soy hull preparation resulted in a spectrum corresponding to well-ordered cellulose. The botanic source has an essential influence on the physico-chemical properties of dietary fiber preparations of cellan type.