Consuming plenty of fiber every day has many benefits for our long-term health. Let’s take a look at what they are, why they’re good for you, and where to find them.
Anyone who pays attention to their diet and eats healthy knows that they need to get enough fiber. As we’ll see in our next article, consuming these foods has many benefits and helps us maintain our health. The dietary guidelines recommend a daily fiber intake of 25-30 grams. This means simple and practical advice, such as eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. However, in some cases, it may be beneficial to increase your diet, you can follow our advice on this subject.
What is fiber?
The term fiber refers to a group of substances that our body cannot digest: they are not broken down in the stomach or intestines, but are transferred to the large intestine, where some of them are transformed by the microbiota (intestinal bacteria).
These substances are almost exclusively in the carbohydrate group (which is why fiber is a carbohydrate), but unlike them, fiber does not provide our body with energy. Fibers have a very different effect: they actually prevent the development of various diseases, are important for constipation, such as cardiovascular and oncological diseases, and help control blood sugar. EFSA provides a list of substances that make up dietary fiber, including non-starch polysaccharides, cellulose, lignin, pectin, hydrocolloids, fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and resistant starch. According to its solubility in water, it is divided into soluble fiber and insoluble fiber, and these have different effects on our health.
Soluble Fiber: Properties and Sources Soluble fiber is a fiber that dissolves in water and forms a gel-like substance, slowing down digestion and preventing the absorption of other nutrients. When it reaches the intestines, most of the soluble fibers are fermented by the microbiota there; therefore, we speak of prebiotic fiber. In fact, bacteria can transform these chemicals through fermentation, feed on them and produce chemicals that are beneficial to us.
Soluble fibers include pectins, gums, mucilages, oligosaccharides and galactomannans. These are usually found in fruits (pectin), legumes (pectins, gums and galactomannans), some vegetables such as onions and chicory (FOS) and grains such as oats and barley, which contain beta-glucan.
Insoluble fibre: Insoluble fibre, unlike the fibres above, does not dissolve in water, but retains a lot of water: in this way it tightens the intestines (improving constipation) and therefore also reduces the absorption of nutrients (e.g. fat or sugar). Insoluble fibres such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are not fermented in the intestines and therefore are not considered prebiotic fibre. The most common foods are vegetables, bran and whole grains, but fruit and beans also contain some fibre, most plant foods contain varying amounts of soluble and insoluble fibre.
How much fibre should you eat each day?
The recommended daily fiber intake is 25-30 grams, but in special cases such as high blood pressure and heart disease, this amount should be increased to 30-35 grams. The best ratio of insoluble fiber to soluble fiber is 3:1. Even if you eat 5 fruits and vegetables every day, eating fruits and vegetables alone is not enough to get this amount. Therefore, it is important to include other foods that we mentioned earlier, such as dried fruits and oilseeds, as well as grains and legumes.
