Well, we know that a balanced diet consists of proportionate amounts of carbs, fat, protein.
Today let's talk about fiber and its importance in our body.
Carbohydrates consist of two categories:
Available / digestible carbohydrates
Unavailable/indigestible carbohydrates
The available form provides energy to the body and that's about 50-70%.
The unavailable form consists of dietary fibers. They aren't digested into the body as our body lacks the digestive enzymes required for it.
To list a few examples of dietary fibers are, cellulose, pectin, gum, mucilage. They are found in fruits and #vegetables
(Tip: Eat your vegggiiieesss).
So, you might be thinking if they aren't digestible then why do we need it? well, here's your answer.
Water holding capacity: the dietary fibers have a property of holding water like a sponge with a concomitant increase in viscosity. thus, fiber adds bulk to the diet and increase transit time in gut.
Physiologic effects on body: they also have influence along the entire gastrointestinal tract. for example, it increases salivary secretion in mouth and also delays the gastric emptying in stomach.
Adsorption of organic molecules: organic molecules like bile acids, neutral sterols, carcinogens etc. get adsorbed onto the dietary fibers and excreted out.
Hypoglycemic effect: the gum present in the fenugreek seeds is most effective in reducing blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Hypocholesteremia effect: bile acids and cholesterol binds onto the fibers and excreted out.
Increase in stool bulk: fibers absorb water and increases stool bulk and helps to reduce the tendency for constipation.
medicinal significance:
high fiber diet is associated with reduced incidences of diseases like,
coronary heart disease
colon cancer
diabetes
hemorrhoids.
advantages come along with disadvantages as well. high fiber can have adverse effects on the health. fibers bind to some mineral element and prevents their proper absorption.
hence, high fiber can lead to deficiency in mineral content of the body.
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