The benefits of eating more dietary fiber

This is the 5288th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

Dietary fiber is actually a complex carbohydrate that the human body can neither digest nor absorb into the blood. Unlike other carbohydrates, it does not produce energy and is excreted from the body as fiber after passing through the intestines. Fiber is divided into two categories: soluble and insoluble. Although dietary fiber cannot provide nutrition for human life, it is an indispensable component for promoting human health.

A series of studies in recent years have found that dietary fiber is closely related to human health and plays an important role in preventing certain human diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and constipation.

Modern medicine and nutrition have confirmed that dietary fiber can be called the "seventh nutrient" along with the traditional six nutrients. Generally speaking, the plants, vegetables and fruits we eat contain rich cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in their cell walls.

So what are the benefits of eating high-fiber foods? Here is a summary:

1. Promotes Weight Loss

Cellulose has a small specific gravity and large volume. It fills the stomach cavity after eating and takes a long time to digest, prolonging the time of gastric emptying, making people more likely to feel full and reduce calorie intake. At the same time, dietary fiber reduces the calorie ratio of food intake. Cellulose attracts fat in the intestines and excretes it from the body, helping to reduce fat accumulation. The three can achieve the goal of weight loss at the same time.

2. Maintain the stability of intestinal flora

Erica D. Sonnenburg and others from Stanford University School of Medicine found that dietary fiber deficiency can reduce the diversity of intestinal microorganisms and affect the transmission of intestinal flora between generations. Once the intestinal flora of the offspring is affected, supplementing dietary fiber will not help. These microorganisms ferment the sugars in dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids, which provide energy for small intestinal cells, promote the normal operation of the body's physiological functions, and help the human body form a normal immune response.

3. Prevent and treat constipation

Dietary fiber has a large volume and can absorb more water in the human gastrointestinal tract, increasing the volume of stool, softening its texture, speeding up intestinal peristalsis, and reducing the occurrence of constipation.

4. Lowers blood lipids

Some components in dietary fiber can combine with cholesterol, allowing it to be excreted directly from the feces, thereby consuming cholesterol in the body to replenish the cholesterol consumed in bile, thereby lowering blood lipids.

5. Protect your skin

When there are toxic substances in the blood, the skin becomes the place where they discard waste. Facial acne is caused by excessive acidic substances and saturated fat in the blood. People who are often constipated have a dull and yellow complexion because the feces stay in the intestines for too long, and the toxic substances are absorbed through the intestinal wall and the blood is contaminated with toxins. Dietary fiber can stimulate the peristalsis of the intestines, so that waste can be discharged from the body in time, reducing the toxic effects of toxins on the intestinal wall, and thus protecting the skin.

6. Control blood sugar

Foods containing large amounts of dietary fiber provide very little energy to the human body. The pectin in the fiber can prolong the residence time of food in the intestines, reduce the absorption rate of glucose, and prevent blood sugar from rising sharply after a meal, which is beneficial to the improvement of diabetes. At the same time, high-fiber foods can reduce the secretion of insulin within the physiological range and reduce food intake, and can effectively control blood sugar.

Although foods rich in dietary fiber have the above-mentioned benefits, you should not be picky eaters. The correct dietary principle is to reduce fat intake, appropriately increase the proportion of vegetables and fruits, and maintain a balanced nutrition.

Nutrition experts recommend that while maintaining nutritional diversity, you must consume more dietary fiber, at least 25 to 38 grams per day.

The following are recommended for daily diet:

1. Eat a variety of foods so that you can eat soluble fiber and insoluble fiber, both of which are good for the body. It is appropriate to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

2. Breakfast is the best time to eat high-fiber foods. You can eat foods rich in dietary fiber such as nuts, corn, and lettuce.

3. Beans are the best source of fiber and can also add flavor to dishes. Eat beans 2 to 3 times a week.

4. Fiber-rich cooking methods. Use high-fiber ingredients in your recipes, such as adding oatmeal and whole wheat to porridge, adding red beans and mung beans to rice, and adding radish to soup.

In short, the digestion and function of dietary fiber are affected by many factors, including the time it takes for food to pass through, and the species and quantity of microorganisms in the colon. Dietary fiber is one of the essential nutrients for a balanced diet, and it can provide health to the human body in different ways and is an indispensable component for promoting human health.

Author: Shanghai Tongji Hospital Big Health Engineering Management Institute

Li Jun