Fiber
Current estimates suggest 59,700,000 Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. By far, cardiovascular disease has been the number one killer in the United States since 1900. An American dies on average every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease. Understanding the relationship of our lifestyle and dietary factors to our risk of cardiovascular disease is vital to protecting ourselves as much as possible. Several factors have shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Low dietary fiber intakes are one such factor.
What is fiber?
Fiber is a plant material that is resistant to digestion. Enzymes work in our digestive tract to break apart nutrients so they can be absorbed and used by our body. However, humans do not produce the enzymes necessary to break apart what we call fiber. Therefore, they pass through the digestive tract undigested. The bacteria located in the lower gastrointestinal tract will ferment some fiber. There are two different kinds of fiber, water-soluble and water-insoluble. Soluble and insoluble varieties have different actions within the body. Specific definitions and classifications of fiber vary depending upon what analytic method is used.
How does fiber lower my risk of cardiovascular disease?
Researchers have suggested a variety of ways that fiber may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. Fiber may lower blood pressure, improve the metabolism of sugar (glucose) and lower cholesterol and triglycerides. Fiber can reduce blood cholesterol by decreasing absorption of cholesterol, fat and bile. Bile is secreted by the gallbladder to aid fat digestion. The liver makes bile from cholesterol. If the bile isn’t reabsorbed, the liver will lower blood cholesterol levels in order to make more bile. Overall, soluble fibers appear to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease more than insoluble fibers. Researchers have also found that fiber inhibits the production of cholesterol by a variety of methods. Fiber also favorably impacts satiety and slows down the time the stomach takes to empty food into the small intestine. This helps sustain a feeling of fullness, which may help prevent one from overeating.
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