Fiber

What are the benifits of intake fiber added foods?

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While there are some benefits to fiber-added foods, it’s important to understand that they can’t completely replace the benefits of naturally fiber-rich foods. Here’s a breakdown:

Benefits of Fiber-Added Foods:

  • Increased Fiber Intake: For people who struggle to consume enough fiber through their diet, fiber-added foods can be a helpful way to boost their intake. This can be beneficial for:Digestive health: Promoting regularity and preventing constipation.Weight management: Fiber can help you feel fuller for longer, potentially reducing calorie intake.Blood sugar control: Fiber can help regulate blood sugar levels.Heart health: Fiber may help lower LDL cholesterol levels.

However, there are some limitations:

  • Lower Nutrient Content: Fiber-added foods are often processed and may lack the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants naturally found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
  • Potential for Added Sugars and Unhealthy Fats: Some fiber-added foods can be high in added sugars or unhealthy fats to improve taste and texture.
  • Not a Replacement for Whole Foods: A diet rich in naturally fiber-rich whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts is the best way to get sufficient fiber and its associated health benefits.

Here’s a summary:

  • Consider fiber-added foods as a supplement, not a replacement, for whole foods.
  • Choose fiber-added foods that are minimally processed and low in added sugars and unhealthy fats.
  • Read food labels carefully to understand the fiber content and other ingredients.

Here are some tips for increasing your fiber intake naturally:

  • Focus on whole grains: Choose brown rice, quinoa, whole-wheat bread and pasta over refined options.
  • Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables: Aim for at least 5 servings per day.
  • Include legumes in your diet: Beans, lentils, and chickpeas are excellent sources of fiber.
  • Add nuts and seeds to your meals and snacks.

By incorporating these strategies, you can ensure you’re getting enough fiber for optimal health.

Fiber’s Surprising Role in Brain, Immune System, and Overall Health.

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Fiber is key to gut health and overall wellness, yet many diets lack sufficient fiber. Balance and variety in fiber sources are important for its full health benefits.

There’s no shortage of advice about what to eat, including hype about the latest superfoods that will help you live to 100, or about the newest restrictive diets that claim to help you lose weight and look beautiful. As a researcher from the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, I’m well aware that there is no universal “healthy diet” that will work for everyone.

However, most professionals would agree that a diet should be well balanced between the food groups, and it’s better to include more things like vegetables and fermented foods in your diet than restrict yourself unnecessarily. Eating foods that promote gut health improves your overall health too.

Why is everyone so concerned about fiber?

The importance of fiber has been known for decades. The late great surgeon and fiber researcher Denis Burkitt once said, “If you pass small stools, you have to have large hospitals.” But dietary fiber does more than just help move your bowels. Fiber can be considered a prebiotic nutrient.

Prebiotics aren’t actively digested and absorbed, rather they are selectively used to promote the growth of a beneficial species of microbes in our gut. These microbes then help digest foods for us so we can obtain more nutrients, promote gut barrier integrity, and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.

Prebiotics aren’t actively digested and absorbed, rather they are selectively used to promote the growth of a beneficial species of microbes in our gut.

Fibers can also have microbe-independent effects on our immune system when they interact directly with receptors expressed by our cells. These beneficial effects may even help teach the immune system to be more tolerant and reduce inflammation.

Getting enough dietary fiber?

Probably not. The so-called western diet is low in fiber and filled with ultra-processed foods. The recommendation for daily fiber is between 25-38 grams depending on factors like age, sex and activity level. Most people consume about half of the recommendation, and it can negatively affect overall health.

Good sources of dietary fiber include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, and nuts and seeds. There is a lot of emphasis on soluble fibers and less on insoluble fibers, but in reality, most foods will contain a mixture of both, and they each have their merits.

High fiber snacks are also gaining popularity. With an estimated global value of US$7 billion in 2022, the value of the prebiotic ingredient market is expected to triple by 2032.

The benefits of dietary fiber

There’s plenty of evidence supporting the benefits of dietary fiber. Fiber isn’t just associated with colon health; it’s associated with overall health and brain health through the gut-brain axis. Diets low in fiber have been associated with gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease.

Fiber is associated with overall health and brain health through the gut-brain axis.

On the other hand, consuming adequate fiber also reduces the risk and mortality associated with cardiovascular diseases and obesity. There are studies that show improvements of cognitive function with certain types of fiber.

There are some gastrointestinal diseases, like Celiac disease, which are not typically associated with the benefits of dietary fiber. However, there isn’t a consensus to the specific type of fiber and dose that would be beneficial in treating most diseases.

Not all fiber is good fiber

Shockingly, not all fiber is good for you. Fiber is used as an umbrella term for indigestible plant polysaccharides, so there are many different types with varying fermentability, solubility and viscosity in the gut.

To make things more complex, the source matters too. Fiber from one plant isn’t the same as fiber from another plant. Additionally, the old proverb, “too much good is not good” rings true, where overconsumption of fiber supplements can cause symptoms such as constipation, bloating and gas. This is partly due to the differences in gut microbiomes that affect the ability to metabolize fiber to produce beneficial molecules like short-chain fatty acids.

In some cases, such as inflammatory bowel disease patients, lack of microbes with the capacity to digest fiber may allow intact fibers to interact with intestinal cells directly and exert pro-inflammatory effects. Recent evidence has even shown that excessively high consumption of soluble fibers, such as inulin, a common supplement, can increase the risk of colon cancer development in an experimental animal model.

Part of a healthy diet

Dietary fiber is an important part of a healthy diet that can promote both gut and overall health. Fiber helps you feel more satisfied after meals and helps to regulate your blood sugar and cholesterol. Do your best to consume fiber as part of your diet, and when needed, take only the dose of supplements as recommended.

Prebiotics promote the growth of gut microbes that can affect gut health and immunity in the context of many different diseases, although not all fibers are created equal. While fiber won’t cure illness, diet is a great addition to medicines and treatment strategies that can improve their efficacy.

A Diet Lacking in Fiber Wreaks System-Wide Havoc, Scientists Find

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It’s more than just weight gain—it’s chronic inflammation and weak immunity.

The first two episodes of the Netflix documentary series Rotten touch upon important issues in our relationship to food. The first focuses on the dangers of colony collapse in bee populations as well as international companies filling bottles with ingredients that definitely are not honey. The second deals with food allergies, particularly focused on the largest: peanuts.

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While these are distinct issues, two themes weave these stories together. First, the impact of our environment on health. Humans have gone to great lengths to separate from nature. Yet we interact with whatever environment we live within. Effects of sedentary existences lived apart from the planet’s rhythms include the slow destruction of our bodies and pretty much every species we come into contact with.

The booming almond industry needs pollinators, which stressed beekeepers (and bees) travel hundreds or thousands of miles to accomplish in California’s central valley each season—adding to the stress. Colony collapse is rampant given the diseases these nomadic bees are now sharing. This is but one example of interdependence that we often overlook. No pollination, no honey, no almonds, no—a lot.

The rapid onset of food allergies over the course of only one generation provides another example of our exile from nature’s rhythms. We would never eat foods apart from the environment they were grown or captured within until recently. Industrial monocultures are likely, at least in part, to blame for this stunning increase in any or all of the eight allergens, which leads us to the second theme in these episodes: our microbiome.

These 8 foods make up 90% of all food allergies in the U.S.

The bacteria that live inside of our guts is arguably the most important feature of our entire body. While the brain receives the bulk of praise, scientists have more recently raised an inquisitive eyebrow regarding all the data emerging on the microbiome. The relationship between our nervous system and gut (which has its own nervous system) is exceptionally influential on health.

Our microbiome also directly interacts with our environment. While Purell has proven beneficial for soldiers in foreign territories, constantly sanitizing your hands weakens your immune system when in home territory. Synopsis: let your kids play in dirt. You play in dirt too. Those bacteria are strengthening.

Yet we have many weird relationships with our environment and the foods we eat, often in the invented cause of “purity.” One example is juicing, heralded as the perfect (and profitable) “cleansing” mechanism. Drink juice for five or ten days and your body “resets.” But juice is no different than soda, as you’ve removed the most beneficial part of the fruit: fiber.

We’ve long known fiber is essential to our diet, in order to “get things moving.” Otherwise known as roughage, dietary fiber is comprised of soluble and insoluble fiber. Both play critical roles in defecation. While too much fiber can cause intestinal gas and bloating, too little, a hallmark of a highly processed diet heavy on sugar, means we’ll turn to laxatives instead of eating the fruits, plants, and grains that offer an abundance of it.

Fiber also reduces the risk of heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes, and has been shown to lower mortality rates. But its role in digestion is particularly important. The food we consume is broken down by enzymes, its nutrients absorbed by our intestines. The molecules we cannot absorb, fiber, either pass through or, as it turns out, become food for gut microbes.

A recent study published in Cell Host and Microbe investigates mice on a low-fiber, high-fat diet. The gut bacterial population crashed, triggering immune reactions. A similar experiment, published in the same journal, discovers that the effects of a low-fiber diet are wide-ranging:

Along with changes to the microbiome, both teams also observed rapid changes to the mice themselves. Their intestines got smaller, and its mucus layer thinner. As a result, bacteria wound up much closer to the intestinal wall, and that encroachment triggered an immune reaction.

Continuation of this diet causes chronic inflammation; the mice also got fatter and developed high blood sugar. In both cases, the inclusion of a fiber called inulin dramatically improved their health and gut bacteria population. The researchers, which include Georgia State University’s Andrew T. Gewirtz, realized that fiber serves as an essential food for an entire population of bacteria.

“One way that fiber benefits health is by giving us, indirectly, another source of food, Dr. Gewirtz said. Once bacteria are done harvesting the energy in dietary fiber, they cast off the fragments as waste. That waste — in the form of short-chain fatty acids — is absorbed by intestinal cells, which use it as fuel,” writes Carl Zimmer for The New York Times.

The “peaceful coexistence” of bacteria in the microbial system is disturbed on a low-fiber diet. Famine breaks out. Bacteria dependent upon fiber starve, followed by the bacteria that depend upon them for sustenance. A colony collapse. What follows isn’t a disappearance, but an aggravation.

“Inflammation can help fight infections, but if it becomes chronic, it can harm our bodies. Among other things, chronic inflammation may interfere with how the body uses the calories in food, storing more of it as fat rather than burning it for energy,” writes Zimmer.

Obesity isn’t the only thing fiber fights. It is also believed to help combat or prevent immune disorders. A fiber supplement probably won’t cut it, however, since what our microbiome truly craves is a variety of fiber sources, which, fortunately, can be found in the produce aisle.

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We begin life with a disadvantage regarding fiber. In his book, Catching Fire, British primatologist Richard Wrangham writes that our relatively small colon means we cannot utilize plant fiber nearly as effectively as great apes. Cooked food provides an important means for intaking more fiber (and other nutrients) than raw plants, but thing is, we have to eat those plants.

A diet filled with processed foods and fiber supplements is not going to cut it. Our microbiome craves what it has evolved to need in order to survive. Without those requirements those bacteria perish, initiating system-wide havoc in our bodies. Sans fiber we’re not honoring the environment that gave birth to us, and that environment is certainly speaking back.

The best nutrient to lower cholesterol is

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There is nothing worse than getting a blood test, thinking everything will come back normal, and findings out you have high cholesterol. This is the reality of almost 80 million Americans who have high cholesterol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Let’s get one thing straight: cholesterol is not inherently bad. Your body gets cholesterol from two sources, from the food you eat and from what your liver produces naturally. Cholesterol is needed for both hormone and overall metabolic health.

In excess, it can lead to heart health complications. More research continues to come out about how much dietary cholesterol truly impacts blood cholesterol levels, with more studies starting to show that it isn’t all that much. Rather, research finds certain dietary choices can stimulate the liver to make too much cholesterol.

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. More often than not, the food choices we make can make a significant difference in reducing cholesterol, and thus the risk of developing heart disease in general. The diet tweak you need likely isn’t to eliminate all cholesterol, but to increase your soluble fiber.

What is soluble fiber?

There are two types of fiber: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble helps to add bulk to your stool, whereas soluble fiber slows digestion by absorbing water and turning into a gel-like texture.

You will find soluble fiber in whole plant foods such as:

Insoluble fiber doesn’t have the same cholesterol-lowering effect as soluble, but it’s still important to ensure enough intake of it to prevent constipation by promoting consistent bowel movements.

A look at some of the best foods for increasing fiber
Foods containing fiber (© bit24 – stock.adobe.com)

How does soluble fiber help lower cholesterol?

The gel-like consistency helps it act like a sponge to soak up excess cholesterol and excrete it through your digestive system, affectively helping to blunt absorption in the blood. There are subcategories of soluble fiber, such as viscous fibers, inulin oligofructose, beta glucans, pectin, psyllium, and more, which have been shown to positively impact LDL (“bad”) and total cholesterol.

Researchers continue to find mounting evidence to support that soluble fiber is beneficial for reducing cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t meet their daily fiber targets. It’s recommended that people eat 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day, but most Americans actually eat somewhere between 10 and 15 grams each day.

Do fiber supplements work?

All supplements are meant to do just as their name suggests: supplement your intake. It’s unlikely that you eat the same way every single day, so if you’re trying to stick to the recommended amount of daily fiber, a supplement can help you stay on track.

However, supplements aren’t meant to completely take the place of fiber-rich foods. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds all have a place in the diet not only for their fiber content, but the vitamins, minerals, and tons of antioxidants they provide.

Vitamins and supplements
Supplements (© MarekPhotoDesign.com – stock.adobe.com)

Most Americans would greatly benefit from including more fiber into their diets. It’s the single nutrient known to directly act on cholesterol and help your body get rid of excess amounts.

Fiber has been shown to support healthy cholesterol numbers and be protective against heart disease. If you want to lower your cholesterol, start by prioritizing more soluble fiber-rich foods, along with incorporating other lifestyle factors such as more exercise and decreasing stress.

Diet Suggestions For Increasing Soluble Fiber

Here’s a simple, balanced 7-day meal plan that emphasizes foods high in soluble fiber:

Day 1

  • Breakfast: Oatmeal topped with sliced bananas and a sprinkle of chia seeds.
  • Lunch: Lentil soup with whole grain bread.
  • Dinner: Grilled chicken with a side of steamed broccoli and quinoa.
  • Snacks: An apple; a handful of almonds.

Day 2

  • Breakfast: Smoothie with spinach, berries, and a tablespoon of ground flaxseed.
  • Lunch: Salad with mixed greens, chickpeas, avocado, and olive oil dressing.
  • Dinner: Baked salmon with sweet potato and green beans.
  • Snacks: Orange slices; carrot sticks with hummus.

Day 3

  • Breakfast: Greek yogurt with mixed berries and a drizzle of honey.
  • Lunch: Turkey and avocado wrap with whole grain tortilla.
  • Dinner: Stir-fried tofu with mixed vegetables (carrots, bell peppers) and brown rice.
  • Snacks: Pear; a handful of walnuts.

Day 4

  • Breakfast: Whole grain toast with peanut butter and banana slices.
  • Lunch: Quinoa salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta cheese.
  • Dinner: Grilled shrimp with asparagus and a side of barley.
  • Snacks: Peach; yogurt.

Day 5

  • Breakfast: Berry and banana oat bran muffin with a side of cottage cheese.
  • Lunch: Black bean soup with a side of mixed greens salad.
  • Dinner: Roast chicken with Brussels sprouts and sweet corn.
  • Snacks: Apple; a handful of sunflower seeds.

Day 6

  • Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach and whole grain toast.
  • Lunch: Tuna salad (with Greek yogurt) on whole grain bread.
  • Dinner: Beef stew with carrots, potatoes, and peas.
  • Snacks: Orange; a few slices of cheese.

Day 7

  • Breakfast: Smoothie bowl with kale, banana, almond milk, and a sprinkle of granola.
  • Lunch: Chicken and vegetable stir-fry with brown rice.
  • Dinner: Baked cod with roasted vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers) and farro.
  • Snacks: Kiwi; a handful of mixed nuts.

Tips:

  • Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
  • Adjust portion sizes according to your dietary needs and activity level.
  • Feel free to swap out any ingredients based on your preferences or dietary restrictions.

Remember, it’s always a good idea to consult with a healthcare professional or a dietitian before starting any new diet regimen, especially if you have specific health conditions or dietary needs.

Fiber, a True Superfood

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Hundreds of studies done in the last 15 years have shown how your microbiome (gut bacteria) helps you to retain your health (Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 2019;49(5):506-515), and that what you eat determines the ratio of healthful to harmful types of bacteria in your colon. These bacteria govern your immune system that determines, to a large degree, what diseases you will develop and how long you will live. Your colon bacteria appear to determine your chances of suffering from obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, cancers and many other diseases.

Your colon contains trillions of bacteria that help to control your digestion and just about everything that happens in your body. What you eat determines the types of bacteria that thrive in your gut. Fiber in plants promotes the growth of the healthful bacteria, so when you eat lots of plants, you will build a large colony of these bacteria. The healthful bacteria convert the soluble and fermentable types of fiber into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that have immense health benefits (J Lipid Res, Sept 2013;54(9):2325-40). SCFAs can help to:
• reduce inflammation
• lower high levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure
• reduce hunger
• cause your intestinal linings to produce beneficial mucus that lines your colon to help prevent the harmful bacteria from penetrating there

How Much Fiber Do You Need?
Eating a lot of the foods that contain soluble fiber helps the good bacteria to overgrow the bad ones by depriving them of oxygen (Science, Aug 11, 2017:357(6351):548-549). Soluble fiber is found in varying amounts in vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts and other edible seeds. The more of these foods you eat, the higher your levels of SCFAs (Gut, Nov 2016;65(11):1812-1821). Insoluble fiber is usually not broken down in the colon, so it passes through your digestive tract intact and helps to move undigested food through your colon to help prevent and treat constipation. See Soluble and Insoluble Fiber

Less than five percent of North Americans meet the Institute of Medicine’s recommended fiber intake of 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. The average person gets only 16 grams of fiber per day. A review of 185 prospective studies and 58 clinical trials shows that people who take in the most fiber had a 15–30 percent decrease in deaths during the study periods, reduced rates of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and colorectal cancer, as well as less high blood pressure, high cholesterol or obesity (Lancet, Feb 2, 2019;393(10170):434-445). The hunter-gatherer Hadza tribes in Tanzania take in up to 150 grams per day of fiber, which is more than ten times what North Americans eat, and suffer no apparent ill effects (PLoS Biology, 2018; 16(11):e2005396).

Lifestyle Changes Can Improve the Bacteria in Your Colon
Your current diet determines which bacteria live in your gut. Even if your colon is full of harmful bacteria, you can change your colon bacteria by switching to a high-fiber diet that includes a wide variety of plants.

Older people who live in long-term-care facilities and eat a very low-fiber diet lack healthful diversity and growth of the bacteria in their colons and have very high markers of inflammation and frailty (Nature, 2012;488:178–184).

Another study followed a large number of people who moved from Thailand, where they ate lots of plants, to Minnesota where they switched to the typical Western Diet of fast food, sugared drinks and foods, meat, and fried foods. Within just a few weeks they lost their advantage of diverse and healthful colon bacteria (Cell, Nov 1, 2018;175(4):962-972.e10).

Giving high doses of antibiotics commonly used to treat hospitalized patients with very serious infections did not kill all of their gut bacteria, but caused an immediate drop in healthful bacterial colon diversity. Clostridium species that had not been found before the patients received antibiotics appeared in large amounts. Clostridia overgrowth is responsible for many difficult-to-treat infections that can follow the use of antibiotics

Fiber Helps to Prevent and Treat Obesity and Diabetes

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More than 70 percent of North American adults are overweight and almost 50 percent will become diabetic. A study from China shows that eating more fiber-containing foods encourages growth of bacteria in your colon that can lower high blood sugar levels to normal (Science, Mar 9, 2018:359(6380):1151-1156). Two groups of diabetics were instructed to follow either their normal diet or their normal diet modified with foods that were very high in fiber (vegetables, beans, whole grains and other unground seeds). Both groups also were given acarbose, a diabetic drug (see below).

After 12 weeks, the diabetics who followed the high-fiber diet diet had:
• lower fasting blood sugar levels,
• far lower blood sugar after eating,
• a greater drop in blood levels of HbA1c (a test that measures damage from sugar stuck on cells), and
• significant weight loss.

The researchers cultured the types of bacteria in the subjects’ colons before and after the 12 week study period. They found that the diabetics on the high-fiber diet had a marked increase in the 15 strains of bacteria that convert soluble fiber into short chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as buterate, propionate, and acetate, that lower high blood sugar and cholesterol levels. The high-fiber diet also lowered harmful levels in the colon of indole and hydrogen sulfide, that can raise blood pressure and may increase risk for heart attacks (Molecules, Nov 17, 2016;21:1558)

How Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) Combat Diabetes and Obesity
You have more than 13 trillion bacteria living in your colon, the last 5 feet of your intestinal tract. The good bacteria stay in your colon and do not try to penetrate the cells lining your colon, but the bad bacteria try to penetrate the cells that line the colon. Your immunity works to kill the bad bacteria before they can escape into your bloodstream. As the bad bacteria keep on trying to get into your bloodstream, your immunity stays active all the time to cause inflammation that can eventually attack your own cells and damage every type of cell in your body. This is why the good bacteria are called anti-inflammatory and the bad bacteria are pro-inflammatory.

The good bacteria produce large amounts of SCFAs that:
• feed them and help the colony to grow,
• turn down inflammation,
• help to lower high blood sugar levels,
• reduce hunger, and
• help to grow the mucous lining your colon, to help prevent the colony of bad bacteria from growing and penetrating the colon walls.

Soluble fiber in many fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains is made up of chains of sugar molecules that cannot be broken down by human enzymes. Therefore soluble fiber passes to the colon and fosters the growth of good bacteria that convert soluble fiber to short chain fatty acids that decrease the activity of an overactive immunity and lower high blood sugar and cholesterol. Previous studies have shown that metformin, the most prescribed diabetic drug in the world, lowers high blood sugar levels by also raising colon levels of the good colon bacteria, Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia (Nature Medicine, 2017;23:850–858).

Acarbose
Both groups of diabetics in this study took acarbose, a drug that blocks a natural gut enzyme from breaking down carbohydrates into individual sugars. Humans can absorb only single sugars from carbohydrates. Acarbose prevents a lot of the carbohydrates a person eats from being absorbed into the bloodstream from the stomach and upper intestines and therefore prevents an immediate high rise in blood sugar after eating. Then much of the unabsorbed starches and complex sugars pass undigested to the colon where bacteria break them down so they can be absorbed. These sugars are gradually absorbed in the colon many hours after you eat them and therefore do not cause a high rise in blood sugar.

My Recommendations
All foods that are high in fiber help to prevent diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and certain cancers by encouraging the growth of healthful colon bacteria that produce short chain fatty acids that help to prevent these many diseases. Even though fruits can contain a lot of sugar, they are also loaded with soluble fiber so they help to treat and prevent diabetes (Diabetes Care, July 2008). I recommend that diabetics eat whole fruit with meals, even though fruit can raise their blood sugar levels temporarily. However, I recommend avoiding fruit juices because they usually have had all or most of the fiber removed, and they get into your bloodstream very quickly. Fruit juices have been shown to increase risk for diabetes (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 23, 2011) and worsen the course of diabetes in people who already suffer from that disease (The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, June, 2014;2(6):444–446).

Fiber Reduces Inflammation and Preserves Brain Function

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Story at-a-glance

  • Fiber consumption on a regular basis is known to help you maintain your weight, improve your blood sugar profile, support your immune system and control gut problems, but now it’s shown to control brain inflammation
  • Eating plenty of the foods that supply you with dietary fiber is often at the heart of maintaining the best working order of many of your body’s most important bodily functions, including those of your gut and brain
  • Dietary fiber promotes beneficial bacteria in your gut, which, when digested, produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), along with the byproduct butyrate, which reduces inflammation in the brain’s microglia
  • Microglia are a major type of immune cell in your brain that can become chronically inflamed and, as a result, cause memory and cognitive function problems as you age
  • A high-fiber diet can help lower your risk of premature death from any cause, a serendipitous perk linked to a reduced risk of chronic disease

By Dr. Mercola

Dietary fiber has been noted as a remarkable nutrient because of the many functions it can perform in your body. Getting the ideal amounts of dietary fiber can help you maintain your weight, improve your blood sugar profile, support your immune system, control gut problems that can cause both hemorrhoids and chronic constipation and even positively impact your brain health.

But new research in the journal Frontiers in Immunology reveals another benefit: Consuming optimal amounts of fiber on a regular basis (pun intended) diminishes inflammation, which is at the heart of numerous bodily dysfunctions.

Researchers from the University of Illinois (U of I) showed dietary fiber may help delay what many people, both medical experts and the general public, believe to be inevitable: the decline not only of motor function but of cognitive health. NEWS.am reports:

“As mammals age, immune cells in the brain, known as microglia, become chronically inflamed. In this state, they produce chemicals known to impair cognitive and motor function. That’s one explanation for why memory fades and other brain functions decline during old age … But, according to a new study from the University of Illinois, there may be a remedy to delay the inevitable: dietary fiber.”1

Not only does dietary fiber promote beneficial bacteria in your gut but, when digested, the bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). One of these byproducts is butyrate, which Rodney Johnson, head of the department of animal sciences at U of I, explains reduces inflammation in the microglia.

The drug form, known as sodium butyrate, improved memory in mice in other studies, but until the featured study2 it wasn’t clear how.

MedicalNewsToday3 explains that microglia are a major type of immune cell in your brain that, as you age, can become hyperactive and chronically inflamed. This is likely one culpable factor in the decline of memory and cognitive function in older people. Significantly, microglia are said to account for about 15 percent of all the cells in your brain.

In old mice (aged 22 to 25 months versus young mice at 3 to 6 months), butyrate inhibits harmful chemicals from being produced by inflamed microglia. One chemical in particular — interleukin-1β — had been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Forbes called the discovery a “chemical cascade” for lowered brain inflammation.4

Researchers conducted the study to determine whether they could produce the same inhibitory effect by giving the mice fiber. In this way, they could make the most of the natural “gut” conversion of fiber into butyrate without people having to eat it, as sodium butyrate, Johnson says, has a “noxious odor.”

‘Diet Has a Major Influence On the Function of Gut Microbes’

While your diet has a major influence on both the composition and function of the microbes in your gut, scientists point out that when you eat a lot of fiber, it benefits the good bacteria, while diets containing high amounts of unhealthy fat and protein can take the composition and function of those bacteria in the wrong direction; it has a negative influence, says Jeff Woods, a professor in the department of kinesiology and community health at U of I and coauthor of the study.

While the scientists supposed that butyrate from fiber would affect brain health in the same way as the drug form (sodium butyrate), it hadn’t been clinically proven. Their hypothesis was tested by feeding both low- and high-fiber foods to young and old mice, then measuring the amount of butyrate and other SCFAs in their blood, also keeping track of inflammatory chemicals in their intestines. Johnson notes:

“The high-fiber diet elevated butyrate and other SCFAs in the blood both for young and old mice. But only the old mice showed intestinal inflammation on the low-fiber diet. It’s interesting that young adults didn’t have that inflammatory response on the same diet. It clearly highlights the vulnerability of being old.”5

Interestingly, the intestinal inflammation in the mice eating the high-fiber diet was dramatically reduced, and in fact was demonstrably on par with those of the younger mice, prompting Johnson to conclude, “Dietary fiber can really manipulate the inflammatory environment in the gut.”6

Even more significantly, evidence that dietary fiber also impacts brain inflammation was found when the researchers scrutinized about 50 unique genes in microglia and confirmed that the high-fiber diet reduced levels of brain inflammation in the older mice. Further, eating high amounts of fiber reduced the intestinal inflammation of aging mice so much that it looked no different from that of young mice.

Although the researchers didn’t look at how different amounts of fiber affect “cognition and behavior or the precise mechanisms in the gut-brain axis,” Johnson says, the answer to that will be sought through a nearly $2 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Johnson says he’s confident that the positive effects found in the brain profiles of mice will easily translate to humans and lists the negatives of humans not getting enough fiber in their everyday diets:

“What you eat matters. We know that older adults consume 40 percent less dietary fiber than is recommended. Not getting enough fiber could have negative consequences for things you don’t even think about, such as connections to brain health and inflammation in general.”7

How Dietary Fiber Consumption Impacts Your Gut

As referenced earlier, one of the easiest and most effective ways to optimize your gut microbiome — not to mention least expensive — is to eat foods that provide plenty of fiber, and include traditionally fermented foods, as well. But one important differentiation is the difference between the three types of fiber:

  • Soluble fiber can be easily dissolved in water and attains a gel-like consistency in your large intestine to essentially slow your digestion process and, in the process, slows the rate at which nutrients are utilized and makes you feel fuller longer.
  • Insoluble fiber, which stays intact as it moves throughout your colon rather than dissolving, absorbs fluid and byproducts to help “clean out” your colon by being disposed of as waste.
  • Digestive-resistant starch is a naturally occurring resistant starch that doesn’t break down as it moves through your digestive tract, so it adds bulk to waste, which moves it through faster, and also serves as a prebiotic.

One way fiber benefits you overall is through its ability to help prevent leaky gut, which Food Integrity Now8 asserts has impacted around 80 percent of the U.S. population. It causes numerous and sometimes seemingly unrelated problems, from brain fog to joint pain; hives to anxiety; irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to depression.

Leaky gut means things that shouldn’t are allowed to enter your bloodstream (like toxins) while blocking entrance of things that should (like nutrients).

Good and Bad Aspects of Fiber Sources

A high-fiber diet can help lower your risk of premature death from any cause, a serendipitous perk linked to a reduced risk of chronic disease.

Organic whole husk psyllium, chia seeds, sunflower sprouts, mushrooms and fermented veggies are excellent sources of high-quality fiber, but some of the most beneficial day-to-day sources are crucifers like broccoli and cauliflower, root vegetables and tubers such as sweet potatoes (including the peel), jicama and onions.

Pears, stewed prunes, dried figs or dates, raspberries, pumpkin, almonds, apples with the skin intact, bananas and oranges also contain fiber. However, figs, dates, prunes and bananas are examples of foods that should be eaten in moderation due to their high sugar content.

Another way to get the fiber you need is to take organic psyllium husk (the nonorganic option is usually heavily treated with pesticides) in capsule or powder form. That said, it’s important to understand that while a number of different foods supply dietary fiber, not all of them are constructive, especially due to the way many of them are processed in this modern age.

One clue to this truth is that fiber must be unprocessed. Kidney beans, black beans, lima beans, lentils and other legumes also contain lots of dietary fiber, but besides being loaded with carbs, they also contain lectins. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that attach to specific biological structures that allow them to do harm, as part of a plant’s self-defense mechanism.

They can also cause trouble in humans. Lectins can cause gut problems because they act as damaging “antinutrients” that change the balance of bacteria in your intestines.

In addition, grains are often tapped as a good source of fiber, but grains promote both insulin resistance (which has been identified as a main driver of chronic disease) and leptin resistance (not to be confused with lectins). Leptin is a hormone that helps your body recognize when you’re full. When this ability goes by the wayside, it’s no surprise that it’s associated with obesity and related problems.

Perhaps worse is the problem of glyphosate contamination, a carcinogen and active ingredient in Roundup herbicide that’s been linked to a staggering number of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) cases.9 NHL is described by Cancer Treatment Centers of America as “cancer that develops in the lymphatic system from cells called lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight infections.”10

How Dietary Fiber Consumption Impacts Your Brain

Quite often, eating plenty of the foods that supply you with fiber is at the heart of maintaining the best working order of many of your body’s most important bodily functions. In fact, one study11 showed you can figure a 10 percent reduced risk for all-cause mortality for every 10 grams of fiber you add to your overall fiber intake.

Your brain health is included in the list of those bodily functions. There have been other studies showing what fiber consumption can do for better brain function.

One study12 in 2015 concluded that the quality of what children eat — specifically their dietary fiber intake — is the hinge that cognitive control and performance hinges on, especially because “[t]he human brain continues to undergo extensive changes in structure and functional connectivity throughout childhood and adolescence.”13

Another study from 2007 indicated that older women who ate at least a half-cup of blueberries or at least one cup of strawberries per week had slower rates of cognitive decline — in some cases by as much as 2.5 years.14 Besides the fiber, researchers believe such benefits as antioxidants and anthocyanidins, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, contribute to the results.

One interesting research project involved the hypothesis that a product of fiber fermentation may be its ability to directly affect the hypothalamus, an area of the brain involved in regulating appetite. In relation to how fiber helps fight obesity, scientists looked at the SCFA acetate, which is plentiful and also circulates throughout your bloodstream. Nature notes:

“The fiber was fermented as usual into acetate, which turned up not only in the gut, but also in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain known to be involved in regulating appetite. There, the researchers found, it was metabolized through the glutamine-glutamate cycle, which is involved in controlling the release of neurotransmitters associated with appetite control.”15

One of the most interesting aspects of all these studies is that your brain is connected to your gut, as well as your immune system. In fact, the interconnectedness between all your most vital function depends on what you eat, and fiber is one of the most crucial nutrients for so many reasons.

How much fiber should you be ingesting each day? I advise an ideal fiber intake of 25 to 50 grams per 1,000 calories consumed daily, with a focus on consuming plenty of fiber-rich foods. However, don’t forget to add water to help it do what it’s designed to do: boost your overall health and well-being.

Eat Fiber: Whole Grains Prevent Gut Microbes From Eating Intestine Lining, Increasing Infection Risk

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bowl-of-fruit-

It’s important to add variety to your fiber intake, as different types of fiber work together to maintain optimal digestive health.

We all know fiber is good for your digestive health, but a new study has revealed just how much gratitude we owe to roughage and whole grains. According to the research, fiber also works to help fight against intestinal infection, and without enough of it, the microbes in our gut will begin to consume our gut lining, essentially eating us alive from the inside out.

According to a study now published online in the journal Cell, fiber deprivation causes the gut microbes in mice to begin to eat the mucus lining of their gut. If this deprivation is allowed to continue for too long, it will cause a complete erosion of the gut and may allow invading bacteria to infect the colon wall. According to the researchers, this finding could have implications for possible uses of fiber against the effects of digestive tract disorders.

“The lesson we’re learning from studying the interaction of fiber, gut microbes and the intestinal barrier system is that if you don’t feed them, they can eat you,” explained lead researcher Eric Martens in a recent statement.

For their research, the team transplanted 14 types of bacteria that normally grow in human guts into the intestines of lab mice. As a result, they were able to see the full extent of specific diets on the mice’s gut lining. In doing so, they observed that fiber-less diets were extremely detrimental to the mice’s intestinal health, eating away at the gut lining and allowing for dangerous bacterial infections. What’s more, the same effect was also seen in mice that received a diet rich in prebiotic fiber, a purified form of soluble fiber that is similar to what is found in processed food and supplements.

Martens explained that, although the research was conducted on mice, “the take-home message from this work for humans amplifies everything that doctors and nutritionists have been telling us for decades: Eat a lot of fiber from diverse natural sources.”

You don’t have to down bottles of prune juice in order to ensure you are meeting your fiber quota; there are plenty of easy and arguably more pleasant ways to increase your fiber intake. For example, according to WebMD, switching to whole grain versions of bread, rice, and pasta can be a useful diet tool. In addition, snacking on fruit throughout the day can go a long way, as one banana or a single pear can have up to 4 grams of fiber (that’s the same as one cup of cooked brown rice).

It’s important to add diversity to your fiber intake. For example, fiber comes from a variety of food, such as fruit and veggies, as well as cereal, bread, and even yogurt.

“We can’t expect all fibers to have the same functions, just like we don’t expect all vitamins to have the same functions,” explained Dr. Julie Miller Jones, professor emeritus at St. Catherine University who recently conducted research on American fiber intake.

Mixing different types of naturally occurring fibers will ensure that they work together and be as beneficial as possible.

Source: Desai MS, Seekatz AM, Koropatkin NM, et al. A Dietary Fiber-Deprived Gut Microbiota Degrades the Colonic Mucus Barrier and Enhances Pathogen Susceptibility. Cell . 2016

Why everybody with a food allergy should start eating more fiber immediately

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A high-fiber diet rich in vitamin A may alter gut bacteria in a way that could prevent or reverse food allergies. This is the finding of a new study published in the journal Cell Reports.

It is estimated that around 15 million people in the United States have food allergies, and this number is increasing.

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1997-2007, the number of children and adolescents in the U.S. with food allergies rose by around 18 percent, though the reasons for this are unclear.

Eight food types account for around 90 percent of all food allergies. These are peanuts, tree nuts, egg, milk, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.

Allergic reactions to food vary from person to person, but they may include tingling or itching in the mouth, hives, nausea or vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea.

In more severe cases, a person with a food allergy may experience swelling of the lips, tongue, and/or throat, shortness of breath, trouble swallowing, chest pain, and a sudden drop in blood pressure.

Occurrence of severe symptoms – alone or alongside milder ones – could be indicators of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening reaction that requires immediate medical attention.

Of course, the best way to avoid an allergic reaction to food is to avoid consuming the food that triggers it, though this can be easier said than done.

Now, a new study suggests there may be a simple way to prevent or reverse food allergies: a high-fiber diet, enriched with vitamin A.

Fiber Triggers Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production to Reduce Food Allergy

High+Fiber+Foods

Co-senior author Laurence Macia, of Monash University in Australia, and colleagues came to their conclusion after studying mice that were artificially bred to be allergic to peanuts.

The researchers fed some of the mice a high-fiber diet rich in vitamin A – found in many fruits and vegetables – while others were fed a diet with average fiber, sugar, and calorie content (the controls).

They found that the mice fed the high-fiber diet had less severe allergic reactions to peanuts than mice fed the control diet.

On closer analysis, the researchers found that the high-fiber diet altered the gut bacteria of mice, which protected them against allergic reactions to peanuts.

Next, the researchers took some altered gut bacteria from mice fed the high-fiber diet and transferred it to the guts of mice with a peanut allergy that were “germ-free” – that is, they had no gut microbes.

Even though these germ-free mice were not fed a high-fiber diet, the team found that the addition of the altered gut bacteria protected them against allergic reactions to peanuts.

6 Reasons Fiber Is Healthy for Diabetes

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Dietary fiber enhances your ability to metabolize blood glucose in a number of surprising ways. Here are some of the key benefits of a high-fiber diet for lowering diabetes risk.

Fiber directly improves insulin sensitivity

Fiber directly improves insulin sensitivity
A number of studies have found that eating more dietary fiber for a period of weeks or months is linked to a reduction in biomarkers for insulin resistance. This may be due in part to dietary fiber’s anti-inflammatory effects—high-fiber diets have been associated with reduced blood levels of C-reactive protein, a marker for systemic inflammation—and also to the fact that the short-chain fatty acids that fiber produces when it ferments in the intestinal tract tend to inhibit the breakdown of the body’s fat stores into free fatty acids. This breakdown of fat stores appears to play a major role in creating insulin resistance in the skeletal muscles.

Fiber slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream

Fiber slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream
Soluble fiber’s general effect of slowing down the digestive process means that the carbohydrates we eat take longer to be broken down into glucose. As a result, the release of glucose into the blood after eating tends to occur more slowly over a longer period of time following a high-fiber meal. This means that glucose doesn’t rise to as high a peak after eating, putting less stress on the glucose metabolism process.

Fiber signals the liver to manufacture less glucose

Fiber signals the liver to manufacture less glucose
The same fermentation process that signals the body to become more responsive to insulin also suppresses glucose production in the liver—countering the liver’s glucose overproduction that occurs as the result of insulin resistance.

Fiber makes you feel more full so it’s easier to eat less

Fiber makes you feel more full so it’s easier to eat less
A number of studies have found that people who eat diets high in fiber feel more full after eating and also feel less hungry between meals. For starters, dietary fiber is simply bulkier than other nutrients. This causes the stomach to become more distended when you eat fiber, which sends appetite-suppressing signals to the brain. Soluble fiber also slows down the passage of food through the digestive tract, causing nutrients to be absorbed more slowly, which has been linked to an increase in digestion-related sensations of satiety. There is also evidence that the need to chew high-fiber foods more thoroughly than other food types contributes to a feeling of being full. Finally, fiber also appears to act directly on cells in the intestinal wall to trigger a hormonal response that may contribute to feelings of satiety.

In addition, foods high in fiber are generally lower in calories, period. Because research shows that we judge how much to eat based on the actual volume of food we consume, this effect should also tend to reduce the amount of calories you take in.

Dietary fiber alters your gut bacteria so that it consumes more calories

Dietary fiber alters your gut bacteria so that it consumes more calories
A high-fiber diet alters the makeup of the gut microbiome (the many billions of bacteria and other microbes that populate the intestinal tract) in a way that causes these microbes to consume more calories from the food that you eat, again allowing fewer calories to pass into the body.

A high-fiber diet makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight

A high-fiber diet makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight
The fact that a diet high in fiber results in increased satiety and an altered intestinal microbiome both suggest that a high-fiber diet can help prevent excess body fat. A number of studies have confirmed that the more fiber people eat, the lower their body weight and body fat tends to be. In addition, several short-term studies of overweight people on high-fiber diets have found that these diets tend to result in moderate weight loss. Losing even a relatively small amount of weight will improve insulin sensitivity and reduce type 2 diabetes risk.