what is dietary fibre
Answers
Answer:
Dietary fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, includes the parts of plant foods your body can't digest or absorb. Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fiber isn't digested by your body.
Explanation:
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Dietary Fibre :
WHAT IS DIETARY FIBRE?
Dietary fibre is a type of carbohydrate that cannot be digested by our bodies' enzymes. It is found in edible plant foods such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, dried peas, nuts, lentils and grains. Fibre is grouped by its physical properties and is called soluble, insoluble or resistant starch. All three types of fibre have important roles to play.
WHAT DOES FIBRE DO?
Dietary fibre helps keep the gut healthy and is important in helping to reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and bowel cancer2. Fibre reaches the large bowel undigested where it is fermented by bacteria. The by-products of this fermentation are carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The SCFAs are used by the body. Initially, increasing fibre intake can cause an increase in gas production which can result in bloating. However, depending on the type of fibre chosen, our bodies do adapt and gas production for most people should decrease over time. Soluble fibre and resistant starch also function as prebiotics and support the probiotics (bacteria) we have in our large bowel which are essential for digestive health.
WHERE ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIBRE FOUND?
Soluble fibre is found in foods like fruit, oats, beans and barley. When it dissolves in water it forms a gel-like substance. Soluble fibre helps to:
- Support the growth of friendly bacteria needed to help maintain a healthy gut
- Reduce cholesterol absorption by binding to it in the gut.
- Slow down the time it takes for food to pass through the stomach into the small intestine This helps slow down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream and has the benefits of keeping you feeling fuller for longer, helping to control blood sugar levels, which are important for the management of diabetes
- Resistant Starch develops during the heating and then cooling of some foods such as potato and rice. Some grains and grain products have been developed for their high resistant starch levels and these include Hi-maize and BARLEYmaxTM. Foods high in resistant starch often have a low glycaemic index.
Insoluble fibre does not dissolve in water and is found in foods like wholemeal bread, wheat bran, vegetables and nuts. Insoluble fibre adds bulk to stools by absorbing water, and helps to keep you regular. It is important to increase your fluid intake as you increase fibre. Without fluid, the fibre stays hard, making it difficult to pass and causing constipation.
WHICH FOODS ARE RICH IN FIBRE?
Dietary fibre is found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, wholegrain breads and cereals. Most sources of dietary fibre tend to have a combination of both soluble and insoluble fibre in varying proportions. Resistant starch is not always measured when fibre is assessed in a food and we may underestimate how much fibre is present in some foods.