Even though fiber is an indigestible substance that is resistant to being broken down in your small intestine, it can have many powerful health effects in your body.
Fiber can help lower your risk of developing constipation, diverticulosis, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes mellitus.
Fiber helps prevent constipation and diverticulosis A diet plentiful in insoluble fibers such as bran, whole grains, and many fruits and vegetables will help keep things moving along in your digestive tract and decrease your likelihood of becoming constipated.
As remnants of food move through your colon, water is absorbed, which causes the formation of solid waste products.
The contractions of the muscles in your colon push the stool toward your rectum to be eliminated.
If these muscle contractions are sluggish, the stool may linger too long in your colon, which can cause too much water to be reabsorbed.
This can create hard, dry stools that are more difficult and painful to expel.
Fiber helps prevent obesity A fiber-rich diet can also be kind to your waistline.
High-fiber foods, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, can add to satiation so that you need to eat fewer calories to feel full.
Obese men and women tend to consume lower amounts of dietary fiber daily than their leaner counterparts.
This lends credence to the concept that fiber plays a role in weight management.
Whereas some weight-loss diets restrict carbohydrates, these plans would work better if they increased high-fiber carbohydrates.
Fiber helps prevent heart disease, diabetes, and cancer Viscous, soluble fibers can help lower elevated blood cholesterol levels.
A high blood cholesterol level can increase the risk of heart disease.
It is believed that viscous fiber interferes with the reabsorption of bile acids in the intestines.
Bile acids are high in cholesterol and are released into your intestine by your gallbladder to help with the digestion of fat.
The bile acids are likely grabbed by the fiber before they can be reabsorbed by the body.
They then end up being excreted along with the fiber in your waste products.
Your body replaces these lost bile acids by removing cholesterol from the blood to generate new bile acids in the liver.
Blood cholesterol levels are lowered as a result.
Slow-moving, viscous, soluble fibers may reduce the rate at which fat and carbohydrates are absorbed from your meals.
Delayed absorption can lower the surge of fat in your blood after a meal, and may help improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin.
Both high levels of fat in the blood and a decreased sensitivity to insulin are considered risk factors for heart disease.
Viscous, soluble fibers can also help individuals with diabetes mellitus.
They slow the release of food from your stomach, and thus slow down the digestion and absorption of glucose.
This could help avoid a large spike in blood glucose after eating and help those with diabetes improve the long-term control of their blood glucose level.
Fiber can help lower your risk of developing constipation, diverticulosis, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes mellitus.
Fiber helps prevent constipation and diverticulosis A diet plentiful in insoluble fibers such as bran, whole grains, and many fruits and vegetables will help keep things moving along in your digestive tract and decrease your likelihood of becoming constipated.
As remnants of food move through your colon, water is absorbed, which causes the formation of solid waste products.
The contractions of the muscles in your colon push the stool toward your rectum to be eliminated.
If these muscle contractions are sluggish, the stool may linger too long in your colon, which can cause too much water to be reabsorbed.
This can create hard, dry stools that are more difficult and painful to expel.
Fiber helps prevent obesity A fiber-rich diet can also be kind to your waistline.
High-fiber foods, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, can add to satiation so that you need to eat fewer calories to feel full.
Obese men and women tend to consume lower amounts of dietary fiber daily than their leaner counterparts.
This lends credence to the concept that fiber plays a role in weight management.
Whereas some weight-loss diets restrict carbohydrates, these plans would work better if they increased high-fiber carbohydrates.
Fiber helps prevent heart disease, diabetes, and cancer Viscous, soluble fibers can help lower elevated blood cholesterol levels.
A high blood cholesterol level can increase the risk of heart disease.
It is believed that viscous fiber interferes with the reabsorption of bile acids in the intestines.
Bile acids are high in cholesterol and are released into your intestine by your gallbladder to help with the digestion of fat.
The bile acids are likely grabbed by the fiber before they can be reabsorbed by the body.
They then end up being excreted along with the fiber in your waste products.
Your body replaces these lost bile acids by removing cholesterol from the blood to generate new bile acids in the liver.
Blood cholesterol levels are lowered as a result.
Slow-moving, viscous, soluble fibers may reduce the rate at which fat and carbohydrates are absorbed from your meals.
Delayed absorption can lower the surge of fat in your blood after a meal, and may help improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin.
Both high levels of fat in the blood and a decreased sensitivity to insulin are considered risk factors for heart disease.
Viscous, soluble fibers can also help individuals with diabetes mellitus.
They slow the release of food from your stomach, and thus slow down the digestion and absorption of glucose.
This could help avoid a large spike in blood glucose after eating and help those with diabetes improve the long-term control of their blood glucose level.
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