A high fiber diet that includes a variety of sources of
fiber reduces several major risk factors for heart disease and other
medical conditions and could help you live longer. Fiber
does a heart good, and 25 grams per day is needed to reap
significant benefits. In the U.S. it's been estimated that the average
adult eats only about 10 to 15 grams of fiber a day. In addition, fiber
could help with weight loss and help reduce cholesterol levels. Foods containing strong-gelling fibers reduce
food intake by stimulating a feeling of satiety or fullness.
People who get a lot of fiber in their diet lower their odds for
type 2 diabetes.
Definition: Dietary fiber is the term for parts of plants a body can't digest. Dietary fibers are non-starch polysaccharides which are derived from vegetables, whole grains, legumes and other plants and absorb water when consumed. Natural dietary fiber contains cellulose, lignin, waxes, chitins, pectins, beta-glucans, inulin and oligosaccharides.
Classification: Fiber is classified as soluble or insoluble. Both types of fiber are present in all plant foods. Soluble fiber undergoes metabolic processing via fermentation, yielding end-products that influence health. Insoluble dietary fiber attracts water and increases bulk, softens stool and maintains regularity.
Fiber supplement pill and powder
There are a number of types of fiber supplements sold over the counter. They
come in pill or powder form. I prefer you get your fiber directly from foods.
However, if you are not able to do so easily, then it would be quite acceptable
to take fiber supplements. Or, you could take them only at a meal which happens
to have little fiber. For instance a meal of meat and potatoes or a snack such
as pie or ice cream.
Most common or popular fibers are:
Psyllium is one of my
favorite fiber supplements, I use half or one teaspoon of the powder daily with breakfast, lunch or dinner.
You also have the option to take psyllium
capsules rather than the powder.
Glucomannan
is a dietary fiber becoming more popular in the USA.
Glucomannan has been studied in
terms of weight reduction.
Less common:
Apple pectin fiber. Although present in the cell walls of most plants, apple and orange peel are the two major sources of commercial pectin due to the
poor gelling behavior of pectin from other sources.
Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2014. Clinical benefits after soluble
dietary fiber supplementation: a randomized clinical trial in adults with
slow-transit constipation/ Four-week pectin soluble dietary fiber use
accelerates colon transit time and alleviates clinical symptoms in patients with
slow-transit constipation. Additionally, supplementary fiber offers protective
effects on gut microbiota by increasing the population of healthy microflora.
Prebiotics such as
inulin fiber. You can purchase inulin
fiber supplement over the counter.
Beta-glucan is a
soluble fiber derived from the cell walls of algae, bacteria, and fungi. Beta glucan
supplements are available to be purchased.
Grapefruit pectin
fiber information and
supplement
product.
Modified citrus pectin
supplement is an example of a healthy fiber.
Agar fiber is found often in
form of a powder.
Chitosan
fiber has been promoted for weight loss but studies have not shown
chitosan to be of benefit for the purposes of losing weight.
High fiber food
-
source
Most plants and foods have a combination of soluble and
insoluble fiber.
Foods high in soluble fiber include
whole grains, oat bran,
oatmeal, cereals,
beans, peas, rice bran, barley, citrus fruits, strawberries and apple
pulp. Oats have the highest proportion of soluble
fiber of any grain. Soluble fibers that
dissolve or swell when put into water include pectins, gums (gum arabic, guar
gum, locust bean gum), mucilages, and some hemicelluloses.
Insoluble fiber is important in normal bowel function. Foods high in insoluble fiber
include whole-wheat breads, wheat cereals, wheat bran, rye, rice, barley, most
other grains, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, cauliflower
and apple skin.
Insoluble fiber cannot be digested by enzymes in the human gastrointestinal
tract. Insoluble fiber is considered a "noncarbohydrate carbohydrate" since the
components that make it are lignins, cellulose, and
hemicelluloses. All of these compounds form the structural parts of plants and
do not readily dissolve in water and are not metabolized by intestinal bacteria.
Bran fiber is rich in hemicelluloses, while a cotton ball is pure cellulose.
Insoluble fiber is important because it provides mass to the stool, helping to
ease elimination and reduce
constipation. The fiber absorbs water and holds onto it in the intestine.
When enough fiber is consumed, the water-retaining property helps to enlarge and
soften the stool. As a result, less pressure is required to expel the stool.
Flax seeds are wonderful for bowel regulation.
Chia seeds which work
similar to psyllium in having a high fiber content and being able to absorb a lot of water
and help regular bowel function.
Overall benefit
Fiber present in food keeps the gastrointestinal system moving, improves
feelings of satiety thus helping in weight management, reduces the risk of some
forms of cancers and helps the trillions of beneficial microbes living in the
gut and intestines.
Anti-aging benefit
Researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute report eating a high amount
of fiber makes you live longer and reduces the of developing heart disease and
respiratory, some cancers, diabetes and obesity. In addition, fiber helps bowel
movements and lowers cholesterol levels, blood sugar and blood pressure. It also
promotes weight loss and reduces inflammation. Guidelines recommend bout 25
grams of fiber a day. The researchers found that men and women who ate the most
fiber were 22% less likely to die over the nine years than people who ate the
least fiber. Fiber from grains, but not from fruits, was associated with reduced
risks of dying. The report is published in the Feb. 14 online edition of the
Archives of Internal Medicine.
Appetite reduction
Adding a dietary fiber derived from seaweed to a meal-replacement drink may
reduce feelings of hunger. Researchers from Unilever's Research and Development
in the Netherlands compared the effects on hunger after drinking a
meal-replacement drink with alginate at two different strengths and without it.
The higher concentration alginate drink reduced hunger longest -- up to nearly
five hours after drinking it.
Arthritis and osteoarthritis benefit
Consumption of dietary fiber at the recommended average intake of 25 g per day
is associated with lower risks of developing symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and
moderate or severe knee pain in two separate analyses of Osteoarthritis
Initiative participants conducted by investigators at Boston University in 2016.
Colon cancer risk reduction
A diet with lots of
fiber decreases the chances of dying from colon cancer. In people treated for
non-metastatic colon cancer, each five grams of fiber added to their diet
reduces the risk of dying by almost 25 percent, according to Dr. Andrew Chan,
associate professor in the department of medicine at Harvard Medical School;
Nov. 2, 2017, JAMA Oncology, online.
Cholesterol lowering
When eaten regularly as part of a diet
low in saturated fat and cholesterol, soluble fiber has been shown to help lower
blood cholesterol. But how does it work? Three major biological mechanisms have
been proposed to explain the cholesterol-reducing effects of soluble dietarby
fibers: prevention of bile salt re-absorption from the small intestine leading
to an excess fecal bile salt excretion; reduced glycemic response leading to
lower insulin stimulation of hepatic cholesterol synthesis; and physiological
effects of fermentation products, mainly propionate.
Estrogen levels
Women who get the recommended amount of fiber in their diets may have
lower estrogen levels and ovulate less often than women who eat less fiber.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2009.
Fiber and gallstones
High-fiber diet reduces the risk for
gallstones.
Fiber and hemorrhoid treatment
Most kinds of fiber are beneficial for
hemorrhoids,
particularly psyllium.
IBS
Increasing intake is beneficial in certain cases of
irritable bowel
syndrome.
Weight Loss
Foods containing strong-gelling fibers reduce food
intake by stimulating a feeling of satiety or fullness. The average fiber intake of adults in the United States is less than half
recommended levels and is lower still among those who follow currently popular
low-carbohydrate diets, such as Atkins and South Beach. Increasing consumption
of dietary fiber with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes across the
life cycle is a critical step in stemming the epidemic of
obesity found in developed
countries. The addition of functional fiber to weight-loss diets should also be
considered as a tool to improve success.
If a person consumes a high-insoluble-fiber cereal rather than a
low-fiber cereal, they are likely to consume fewer calories and this reduced
energy intake is often not replaced at lunch.
Eat more fiber at breakfast
A breakfast cereal that has a high fiber content contributes to a
cumulative reduction in breakfast and lunch energy intake, possibly due to its
high satiety value. A short-term benefit of a high fiber cereal breakfast,
compared with a low fiber cereal, is lower blood sugar concentration before and
immediately after lunch.
Fiber, weight loss, and cholesterol
reduction study
If you have been a long term reader of my newsletter, you are aware of about my
hesitancy in using statin
drugs for cholesterol reduction, or the use of pharmaceutical drugs for weight
loss. Drugs should be reserved when safer methods fail. Here I present a study
done in Spain that found the use of two simple and inexpensive fibers, psyllium
and glucomannan, to be helpful not only in weight reduction, but also in
lowering cholesterol levels. It's sad that doctors prescribe statin drugs to
their patients with mild cholesterol level elevations when there are are simple
and safe alternatives. I can understand using statin drugs when all natural
options fail, but most doctors don't even suggest additional fiber supplements.
They are quick to the draw to write a prescription for a statin drug such as
Lipitor or prescription weight loss drugs.
Effect of two doses of a mixture of soluble fibers on body weight and
metabolic variables in overweight or obese patients: a randomised trial.
Br J Nutr. 2007.
The purpose of this study was to compare the benefit of a
mixture of fibers on body weight-loss, satiety, lipid profile and glucose
metabolism. For a period of 16
weeks, 200 obese individuals consumed fiber consisting of3 grams Plantago ovata
(psyllium husk) and 1 gram glucomannan twice daily, or three times daily or placebo.
Weight loss
tended to be higher after both doses of fiber than
placebo. Postprandial
satiety increased in both fiber groups compared to the placebo. The
differences between groups in LDL-cholesterol levels were significant,
with greater reductions in the two fiber-supplemented groups. A similar pattern was observed
for changes in total cholesterol / HDL-cholesterol ratios. Interventions were well tolerated
and had no effects on HDL-cholesterol, glucose and insulin concentrations,
glucose tolerance or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. In conclusion, a
16-week dietary supplement of soluble fiber in overweight or obese
patients was well tolerated, induced satiety and had beneficial effects on
some cardiovascular risk factors, the most important of which was a significant
decrease in plasma LDL-cholesterol concentrations.
A study of nearly 6,000 men and women found that the higher the participants' fiber intake, the lower their risk of being overweight or having elevated blood pressure or cholesterol. Fiber from different sources had somewhat different effects. Fiber from whole grains, for example, was linked to lower body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and levels of a blood protein called homocysteine, which is connected to heart disease risk. Fruit fiber was associated with lower blood pressure and less abdominal fat, while fiber from vegetables appeared to lower the risk of high blood pressure and high homocysteine concentrations. And fiber from nuts, dried fruit and seeds was linked to a lower BMI, a lesser risk of abdominal obesity and lower blood sugar levels. These findings all point to the importance of getting fiber from a variety of sources. The results also suggest that adults would do well to get more than the recommended fiber intake of roughly 25 grams per day. In the study, each 5-gram increase above that was linked to a greater decrease in the risks of being overweight or having high blood pressure or high cholesterol. People can generally have fiber intakes of up to 70 grams a day without having digestive symptoms such as bloating and cramping. Study participants with highest total fiber intake had a 30 percent lower risk of being overweight. They had similarly lower risks of high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol compared with their peers who ate the least fiber. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2005.
Fiber and C reactive protein
In a study of 524 healthy adults, investigators found that those with the
highest fiber intake had lower blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) than
those who ate the least fiber. The findings support the general recommendation
that adults get 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day, in the form of fruits,
vegetables, beans and whole grains. It's not clear why fiber reduces
inflammation, but it may lower cholesterol and blood sugar, both of which can
contribute to inflammation. Both of the main forms of fiber, soluble and
insoluble, were related to lower CRP levels. Soluble fiber is found in foods
like oatmeal, beans, berries and apples, while whole grains and many vegetables
are good sources of insoluble fiber. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
April 2006.
Low fiber diet
A low fiber diet is composed of foods that
are low in residue content. This diet reduces fecal mass. A low fiber diet is
sometimes used in the treatment of chronic diarrhea, colitis and other
gastrointestinal disorders, although more recently, higher fiber diets have been
employed for these purposes.
Side effects, safety
Consuming too many high fiber foods that have not been cooked can cause side
effects of abdominal bloating and gas. Taking too many fiber supplements without
adequate water intake can lead hard stools. Make sure to take psyllium and other
fibers with quite a few ounces of water.
Additional plants with a lot of
fiber include:
Int J Biol Macromol. 2014 Feb 15. Locust Bean Gum: Processing, Properties
and Food Applications -A Review. Locust bean gum or carob gum is a galactomannan
obtained from seed endosperm of carob tree i.e. Ceratonia siliqua. It is widely
utilized as an additive in various industries such as food, pharmaceuticals,
paper, textile, oil well drilling and cosmetics. Industrial applications of
locust bean gum are due to its ability to form hydrogen bonding with water
molecule. It is also beneficial in the control of many health problems like
diabetes, bowel movements, heart disease and colon cancer due to its dietary
fiber action.
Barley fiber
2008 - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an interim final
rule to amend the existing health claim regarding soluble fiber and reduced risk
of heart disease, to include barley betafiber as an authorized source of soluble
fiber. The FDA's revision of the health claim is a result of Cargill's health
claim petition, based in large part on Cargill's proprietary clinical research
with Barlív™ barley betafiber. Cargill is the only producer of barley betafiber;
therefore, Barlív barley betafiber is the only barley beta-glucan concentrate
that qualifies for the FDA health claim as defined.
Yucca root
Herb used for constipation
Cascara Sagrada
bark is helpful. You can purchase Cascara Sagrada without a prescription.