The Good Truth About Healthy Fiber

Many of these benefits are mediated by your gut microbiota, the millions of bacteria that live in your digestive system.

However, not all fiber is created equal. Each type has many health effects.

Here Are The Things You Need To Know About Healthy Fiber

Dietary fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate found in foods.

It’s divided into two categories based on its water solubility:

1. Soluble fiber: It can be dissolved in water and metabolized by the “good” bacteria in the gut.
2. Insoluble fiber: This fiber does not dissolve in water.

Possibly a more helpful way to describe fiber is fermentable versus non-fermentable, which refers to whether friendly gut bacteria can use it or not.

It’s essential to keep in mind that there are many different types of fiber. Some of them have great health benefits, while others are mostly useless.

More so, some insoluble fibers can be digested by the good bacteria in the intestine, and most foods contain both soluble and insoluble fibers.

Health experts suggest that men and women eat 38 and 25 grams of fiber per day, respectively.

The bacteria that live in the human body outnumber the body’s cells 10 to 1.

Bacteria live on the skin, mouth, and nose, but the great majority live in the gut, primarily the large intestine.

About 500 different species of bacteria live in the intestine, totaling about 100 trillion cells. These gut bacteria are also known as gut flora.

In fact, there is a commonly helpful relationship between you and some of the bacteria that live in your digestive system.

Of the many different kinds of bacteria, some are crucial for various aspects of your health, including weight, blood sugar control, immune function, and even brain function.

You may wonder what this has to do with fiber. Just like any other organism, bacteria need to eat to get the energy to survive and function.

The problem is that most carbs, proteins, and fats are absorbed into the bloodstream before they make it to the large intestine, leaving little for the gut flora.

This is where fiber comes in. Human cells don’t have the enzymes to digest fiber, reaching the large intestine relatively unchanged.

However, intestinal bacteria do have the enzymes to digest many of these fibers.

The friendly bacteria produce nutrients for the body, including short-chain fatty acids like acetate, propionate, and butyrate, of which butyrate appears to be the most important.

These short-chain fatty acids can feed the cells in the colon, leading to reduced gut inflammation and improvements in digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.

When the bacteria ferment the fiber, they also produce gases. This is the reason high-fiber diets can cause flatulence and stomach discomfort in some people. These side effects usually go away with time as your body adjusts.

Certain types of fiber can help you lose weight by reducing your appetite.

In fact, some researches prove that increasing dietary fiber can cause weight loss by automatically reducing calorie intake.

Fiber can soak up water in the intestine, slowing the absorption of nutrients and increasing feelings of fullness.

However, this depends on the type of fiber. Some types do not affect weight, while certain soluble fibers can have a significant effect.

A good example of an effective fiber supplement for weight loss is glucomannan.

High-fiber foods tend to have a lower glycemic index than refined carb sources, which have been stripped of most of their fiber.

However, experts believe only high-viscosity, soluble fibers have this property.

Including these vicious, soluble fibers in your carb-containing meals may cause smaller spikes in blood sugar.

This is crucial, especially if you’re following a high-carb diet. In this case, the fiber can reduce the likelihood of the carbs raising your blood sugar to harmful levels.

That said, if you have blood sugar issues, you should think about reducing your carb intake, mainly low-fiber, refined carbs, such as white flour and added sugar.

One of the main benefits of increasing fiber intake is reduced constipation.

Fiber is claimed to help absorb water, increase the bulk of your stool, and speed up the movement of your stool through the intestine. However, the evidence is fairly conflicting.

Some studies show that increasing fiber can improve symptoms of constipation, but other studies show that removing fiber improves constipation. The effects depend on the type of fiber.

In one study in 63 individuals with chronic constipation, going on a low-fiber diet fixed their problem. The individuals who remained on a high-fiber diet saw no improvement.

In general, a fiber that increases the water content of your stool has a laxative effect. In contrast, fiber that adds to the dry mass of stool without increasing its water content may have a constipating effect.

Soluble fibers that form a gel in the digestive tract and are not fermented by gut bacteria are often effective. A good example of a gel-forming fiber is psyllium.

Other types of fiber, such as sorbitol, have a laxative effect by drawing water into the colon. Prunes are a good source of sorbitol.

Choosing the right type of fiber may help your constipation, but taking the wrong supplements can do the opposite.

For this reason, you should consult with a health professional before taking fiber supplements for constipation.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the world.

Many studies have linked a high intake of fiber-rich foods with a reduced risk of colon cancer.

However, whole, high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains contain various other healthy nutrients and antioxidants that may affect cancer risk.

Therefore, it’s difficult to isolate the effects of fiber from other factors in healthy, whole-food diets. To date, no strong evidence proves that fiber has cancer-preventive effects.

Yet, since fiber may help keep the colon wall healthy, many scientists believe that fiber plays an important role.