What is dietary fiber? What are the functions of dietary fiber?

As modern people eat more refined and softer food, they have less and less opportunities to use their oral muscles and teeth. Therefore, tooth loss and dental caries are becoming more and more common. Increasing dietary fiber can improve oral health and function. The following content is about what dietary fiber is and its important role. I hope we can all learn more about it.

Contents of this article

1. What is dietary fiber?

2. Is dietary fiber powder high in calories?

3. The role of dietary fiber

What is Dietary Fiber

Dietary fiber refers to food nutrients that are not easily digested and have the function of absorbing water in the digestive system. Dietary fiber is mainly a variety of plant substances of non-starch polysaccharides, including cellulose, lignin, chitin, pectin, beta-glucan, inulin and oligosaccharides, etc., which are usually divided into two categories: non-water-soluble dietary fiber and water-soluble dietary fiber. It is an indispensable substance for a healthy diet. Fiber can clean the digestive wall and enhance digestive function. Fiber can also dilute and accelerate the removal of carcinogens and toxic substances in food, protect the fragile digestive tract and prevent colon cancer. Dietary fiber can promote digestion very well, and it is particularly effective in relieving constipation. We should usually eat more foods rich in dietary fiber to make the body healthier, and it is also very effective in losing weight, such as many grains such as brown rice.

Is dietary fiber powder high in calories?

Dietary fiber powder is not high in calories. Dietary fiber itself cannot be absorbed by the human body, so it has no calories. At the same time, dietary fiber will produce a sense of fullness, so drinking a cup before a meal will make you subconsciously eat less.

The role of dietary fiber

1. Prevent and treat constipation: Dietary fiber is large in size, which can promote intestinal peristalsis and reduce the time food stays in the intestine, making the water in it difficult to be absorbed. On the other hand, dietary fiber is fermented by bacteria in the large intestine, which directly absorbs the water in the fiber, softens the stool, and has a laxative effect.

2. Good for weight loss: Obesity is generally related to increased intake of heat energy from food or reduced physical activity. Increasing the dietary fiber content in the diet can reduce the intake of heat energy, and the digestion and absorption of nutrients in the intestines will also decrease, which will eventually consume body fat and play a role in weight loss. The dietary fiber in orange agar expands 200-250 times when it comes into contact with water, which can not only make people feel slightly full, but also reduce the absorption of excessive calories. It can also wrap excess sugar and fat and excrete them together with the old deposited waste in the intestines. It can be said to be the most effective and safe way to lose weight.

3. Prevent colon and rectal cancer: The occurrence of these two types of cancer is mainly related to the long residence time of carcinogens in the intestines and long-term contact with the intestinal wall. Increasing the fiber content in the diet can reduce the concentration of carcinogens relatively. In addition, dietary fiber can stimulate intestinal peristalsis, which greatly shortens the contact time between carcinogens and the intestinal wall. Scholars agree that a long-term diet based on high animal protein and insufficient fiber intake are important causes of these two types of cancer.

4. Prevent and treat hemorrhoids: Hemorrhoids occur because of long-term blood stagnation and congestion caused by constipation. Dietary fiber has a laxative effect, which can reduce the pressure around the anus and make blood flow smooth, thus preventing and treating hemorrhoids.

5. Promote calcium absorption: Only 30% of the calcium intake in the diet (RDI = 800-1200 mg/d) is absorbed and utilized, and 70% is excreted from the body. The effect of water-soluble dietary fiber on calcium bioavailability: improve intestinal calcium absorption, calcium balance and bone mineral density.

6. Lower blood lipids and prevent coronary heart disease: Because some components in dietary fiber, such as pectin, can bind to cholesterol and lignin can bind to bile acid, allowing it to be excreted directly from the feces, thereby consuming cholesterol in the body to replenish the cholesterol consumed in bile, thereby lowering cholesterol and preventing coronary heart disease.

7. Improvement of diabetes symptoms: Pectin in dietary fiber can prolong the residence time of food in the intestines, reduce the absorption rate of glucose, and prevent a sharp rise in blood sugar after a meal, which is conducive to the improvement of diabetes. In recent years, scholars have shown that dietary fiber has the effect of lowering blood sugar. Experiments have shown that adding 26 grams of corn bran (containing 91.2% fiber) or soybean hulls (containing 86.7% fiber) to the diet every day. The results showed that after 28-30 days, glucose tolerance was significantly improved. Therefore, long-term addition of dietary fiber to the diabetic diet can reduce the need for insulin and control metabolism after meals, which should be used as an auxiliary measure for the treatment of diabetes.

8. Improve oral and dental functions: As modern people eat more refined and softer food, they have fewer opportunities to use their oral muscles and teeth, so tooth loss and dental caries are becoming more common. Increasing dietary fiber naturally increases the opportunities to use oral muscles and teeth for chewing, which in the long run will improve oral health and function.

9. Prevention and treatment of gallstones: The formation of gallstones is related to the high cholesterol content in bile. Since dietary fiber can bind cholesterol, it promotes the secretion and circulation of bile. Therefore, it can prevent the formation of gallstones. Some people give patients 20-30 grams of bran fiber every day, and after one month, they can find that the gallstones are smaller, which is related to the smooth flow of bile.

10. Prevent breast cancer in women: Epidemiological studies have shown that breast cancer is related to a diet high in fat, sugar, meat and low in dietary fiber, because excessive fat in the body promotes the synthesis of certain hormones, creating an imbalance between hormones and raising hormone levels in the breast.