Dietary fiber: healthy helpers for digestion
Dietary fibers are quite different from what their name might suggest. They do not burden the body. Quite the opposite. Dietary fiber has a positive effect on digestion. The healthy helpers support the intestines in their daily digestive work.
The following text explains exactly how this works.
What are dietary fibers?
Dietary fibers are fiber-rich components of plant foods, i.e. plant fibers, seeds or mucilage. Dietary fibers are vital for the human organism and especially for healthy digestion.
Chemically speaking, dietary fiber consists of long-chain carbohydrates that the human organism cannot digest or cannot digest completely.
To prevent constipation, people should consume around 30 grams1 of it every day. At the same time, however, it is not recommended consuming more than the recommended amount on a permanent basis, as this can lead to flatulence.
Dietary fiber and carbohydrates: What is the difference?
Dietary fiber is a specific form of carbohydrate. But what is special about dietary fiber and how does it differ from other carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are divided into two groups. Firstly, there is the group of single and double sugars, which are mainly found in pastries and sweets. They are digested quickly in the intestine and thus enter the blood quickly or are broken down into glucose. The feeling of satiety of these so-called short-chain carbohydrates lasts only a short time.
The second group of carbohydrates includes polysaccharides and dietary fiber. The special thing about dietary fiber is that the human body digests it only slowly or not at all. The feeling of satiety of these so-called long-chain carbohydrates therefore lasts for quite a long time.
Can I speed up my digestion with dietary fiber?
As already mentioned, dietary fiber helps maintain normal bowel function and increases stool volume. Increased stool volume stimulates the intestinal wall and thus speeds up digestion.
So if you include sufficient fiber in your diet on a regular basis, you will not only improve your digestion, but also prevent constipation.
It is important, however, that you drink enough — doctors recommend an intake of 1.5 to 2 liters of fluid per day.
You can read more valuable tips against constipation in our advice article “How can I stimulate my digestion?”
Digestive complaints: Do dietary fibers lead to flatulence?
Yes, too much soluble fiber in your daily diet can lead to bloating. However, certain people react to even small amounts of fiber with bloating.
This is because each person has a different composition of bacterial cultures in the intestine and therefore digests soluble fiber in different ways. Therefore, reactions such as flatulence vary from person to person.
Doctors therefore recommend slowly getting used to different types of dietary fiber by simply trying them out. You can read about other ways to strengthen your intestines in our advice articles “Intestinal cleansing” and “Bentonite: Detoxify and strengthen your intestines”.
Digestive problems: Do dietary fibers promote diarrhea?
Yes, dietary fiber can indeed promote diarrhea. This may be due to the fact that you have suddenly put your intestines through too much fiber. For this reason, it is always advisable to get used to the diet slowly when changing to a high-fiber diet4.
You can read more about what you can do effectively to combat your symptoms of diarrhea in our advice article “What helps against diarrhea”.
Does fiber contribute to the health of my gut flora?
Yes, dietary fiber contributes to the health of your intestinal flora. The intestine is home to a large number of bacteria. These so-called “good” bacteria ensure that the intestinal flora is healthy. If this balance is disturbed due to a lack of fiber, then the risk of intestinal disease increases.
Why is this so? Intestinal bacteria mainly feed on so-called polysaccharides (polysaccharides/soluble dietary fiber). If enough of these soluble fibers are available, the intestinal flora is healthy.
However, if too little of it reaches the colon, the intestinal bacteria attack the intestinal mucosa and try to use the polysaccharides bound in the mucosa.
This connection has now been proven in recent studies on mice. The studies have shown that a lack of dietary fiber leads to the breakdown of the mucus layer in the intestine.
For the study, the mouse intestines were colonized with human bacterial cultures. Therefore, scientists assume that the results can also be transferred to the human organism5.
You can read how to keep your intestinal flora permanently healthy in our advice article “Intestinal flora: tips for building a healthy intestinal flora”.
Do prebiotic foods help me build a healthy intestinal flora?
The term probiotics is familiar to most people. Probiotics are strains of bacteria (microorganisms) that are important for the digestive process and are located in the intestines.
But in connection with dietary fiber, there is another relevant term: the so-called prebiotics or prebiotic foods. Certain dietary fibers, such as insulin, are among these prebiotics. Insulin is abundantly contained in artichokes and salsify, among other things (prebiotic foods).