You can improve on your dietary intake by following a guided valuable nutrition and health information and advice. Develop a personal action plan for improving your eating habits while keeping the fun in food.
To start with, What is Dietary Fiber?
Dietary Fiber generally refers to those parts of foods like fruits, vegetables, cereals or grains, nuts and legumes that cannot be digested by humans digestive system. Tubers, meats, fish and dairy products do not contain fiber.
Basically, there are two types of fibers. These are soluble and insoluble.
The soluble fibers are found within plant cells. Examples are pectin, gums, and algal polysaccharides. Although pectin is part of cell walls, the gummy essence of oat bran and the mushy center of a cooked kidney bean reflect both the soluble fiber content of those foods and the ability of soluble fibers to soak up water.
The insoluble fibers produce the tough, chewy feel of wheat kernels, popcorn, apple skin and nuts. Essential to the cellular structure of plants, insoluble fibers include cellulose, hemicelluloses and ligin. As they do not dissolve in water.
Most fiber-containing foods feature both, but one or the other type often predominates in specific parts of a food and determines the characteristic texture of that portion of the food.
The fiber content of a food varies according to the species of the plant and stage of maturation, but seeds, berries, fruit skins and the bran layers of cereal grains generally contain larger amounts of a plant's fiber.
The fiber content of a food varies according to the species of the plant and stage of maturation, but seeds, berries, fruit skins and the bran layers of cereal grains generally contain larger amounts of a plant's fiber.
Diets higher in fiber, especially the insoluble type, have a lower incidence of colon cancer. They have greater impact on the health of the colon or large intestine. They prevent appendicitis, hemorrhoids, gallstones, diabetes and heart diseases.
Insoluble dietary fibre reduces disease risk by increasing fecal bulk, leaves water in the large intestine. The result is a larger, softer stool that exerts less pressure on the colon walls and is eliminated more quickly. Indeed, the most well-established benefit of a high-fiber diet is in the treatment and prevention of constipation.
Insoluble dietary fibre reduces disease risk by increasing fecal bulk, leaves water in the large intestine. The result is a larger, softer stool that exerts less pressure on the colon walls and is eliminated more quickly. Indeed, the most well-established benefit of a high-fiber diet is in the treatment and prevention of constipation.
They decrease the transit time of food through the gastrointestinal tract, allowing higher nutrients ‘extraction’. They reduce blood cholesterol levels and helping to control blood sugar levels.
The insoluble fibers alter the pH of the large intestine, interfering with microbial activity that produces carcinogens. The combined effect may be a reduced risk of colon cancer.
Studies have shown that diets rich in soluble fibers such as oat bran may help reduce total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in people with both high and normal blood cholesterol levels.
Soluble fibers appear to reduce blood cholesterol in two ways.
First, by preventing the re-absorption of vital bile acids from the small intestine. To replace the lost bile acids, cholesterol is drawn from the body, thereby reducing its cholesterol supply.
Second, the fermentation of soluble fibers in the intestine produces short-chain fatty acids which block the synthesis of cholesterol.
Studies suggest soluble fibers also may help control the rise in blood sugar following a meal and reduce insulin requirements in some patients with diabetes mellitus. By increasing the viscosity of gastrointestinal contents, soluble fibers retard gastric emptying, slowing the absorption of glucose in the process.
