What are the benefits of eating more fiber?

You may have grown up with your mother reminding you to eat your "roughage". What she was referring to was eating your fiber.

Unfortunately, Americans are falling short of their fiber needs with the American Dietetic Association reporting that more than 90% of Americans don't meet the daily recommendations.

The recommended daily allowance of dietary fiber for men under 50 years old is 38 grams per day and for women under 50, 25 grams per day. Currently, most Americans consume only about half the recommended amount.

As a result, we are missing out on fiber's potential health benefits. So why the lack of fiber? It's common knowledge that we need more fiber in our diets. But, as the American diet continues to favor highly processed and package foods, we decrease our intake of natural fiber that is found in real foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and grains.

Fiber comes in two forms, soluble and insoluble. Each acts differently in the intestines and benefits the body in different ways. An easy way to remember the 2 types of fiber: Soluble fiber acts like a sponge; insoluble fiber acts like a broom. You need both in your diet.

What are the benefits of eating more fiber? According to AskDrSears.com, here are some of the most important health benefits of fiber:


1. Fiber curbs overeating. Fiber filled foods fill you up without adding lots of calories. High fiber foods tend to take longer to eat, longer to digest and typically are lower in calories.

2. Fiber helps regulate your blood-sugar level. Fiber, especially the soluble type, found in psyllium, bran, and legumes slows the absorption of sugar from the intestines. This steadies the blood sugar level and lessens the ups and downs of insulin secretion. Keeping insulin levels low and stable also helps the body store less fat, another perk for people trying to control their weight.

3. Fiber slows fat absorption. Fiber may also slow down the absorption of fat from what you eat. This is another weight-control perk offered by a high-fiber diet.

4. Fiber reduces cholesterol. A diet high in soluble fiber, such as that found in oat bran, whole oats, psyllium, legumes, barley, fruit, and prunes, lowers blood levels of the harmful type of cholesterol (LDL) without lowering the good cholesterol (HDL) levels. As it travels down the intestines, soluble fiber absorbs water and forms a gluey gel which picks up cholesterol and carries it out of the body. Recent studies showed that eating an extra ten grams of fiber daily (the average American adult eats only eleven grams of fiber a day), decreased the risk of dying from heart disease by 17-29 percent.

5. Fiber promotes regularity. Insoluble fibers, mainly the cellulose in skins of fruits and vegetables and the husks of grains help prevent constipation; their sponge effect absorbs a lot of water into the stools, making them soft and bulky. This type of stool stimulates the intestines to contract in an undulating way, called peristalsis, which sweeps stools along -- the broom effect of fiber.

6. Fiber reduces cancer risk. While soluble fiber helps protect against cardiovascular diseases, insoluble fiber protects against colon cancer. The incidence of colon cancer is significantly lower in cultures where people eat lots of high-fiber food. Increasing your consumption of insoluble fiber, such as that found in whole grains, especially wheat bran is one of the most effective dietary changes you can make to decrease your risk of colon cancer.

7. Fiber is a family food. In addition to being friendly to aging bowels, fiber is also valuable for school-age children, mainly because it delays the absorption of sugars from the food into the bloodstream, making the blood sugars more stable - and, consequently, making the children more likely to behave and learn better. Send your child off to school with a breakfast containing at least 5 grams of fiber, the amount contained in a medium-fiber cereal and one serving of fruit.


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