Dietary fibre: Essential for a healthy diet |02 February 2018

Growing up, many of us will remember our parents constantly reminding us to “eat our fruits and vegetables”. More and more, we are realising the worth of this advice. With so many options for cheaper, refined and processed foods, it is not hard to understand why many of us are falling short of our daily recommended intake of vitamins, minerals and fibres.

Below, the Nutrition Unit of the Seychelles Health Care Agency explains one of the particularly important reasons for consuming more foods derived from plants and shares a few tips on how we can incorporate them even more into our daily diets.

What is dietary fibre?

Dietary fibre, also known as roughage or bulk, includes the parts of plant foods that your body cannot digest or absorb. Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fibre is not digested by your body. Instead, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine and colon and out of your body. Fibre is only found in foods that come from plants. Foods such as meat, fish and dairy products do not contain any fibre.

Fibre is commonly classified as soluble or insoluble. What is the difference between the two?

Soluble fibre: dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. Soluble fibre is found in food like oats, peas, beans, cassava, apples, citrus fruits and carrots.

Insoluble fibre: does not dissolve in water and passes through your gut without being broken down. Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, banana, cauliflower, green beans, sweet potatoes and bread-fruit are good sources of insoluble fibre.

What are the health benefits of dietary fibre intake?

Promotes a healthier bowel function

Dietary fibre increases the weight of stools and softens it. The stool passes through the intestinal tract easily, thus reducing the need for strained bowel movements. This helps to maintain bowel health and avoid constipation.

Insoluble fibre also decreases the transit time of food waste through the intestinal tract. This reduces the period of time when potentially harmful substances in food waste can come in contact with the intestinal wall.

Helps to control blood sugar level

Soluble fibre slows down the release of sugars from digested food into the bloodstream, thus preventing a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. This can help people with diabetes improve their blood sugar levels.

Lowers cholesterol levels

Soluble fibre may help to lower total cholesterol levels, mainly by lowering LDL-cholesterol (bad) cholesterol. Fibre appears to help bile acids which are made of cholesterol to pass through the intestine as waste. Thus, the body absorbs less dietary cholesterol.

Helps with weight management

High fibre foods generally require a longer time for you to chew which causes you to eat more slowly and may make you eat less. Additionally, the added bulk helps you feel full for a longer period of time.

Healthier gut bacteria

The ‘good bacteria’ that make up your gut micro-flora feed off fibre and flourish. As your gut bacteria uses up fibre that has fermented in your intestine, they produce short-chain fatty acids which help keep the colon healthy.

Reduces your risk of certain cancers

Fibre can reduce your risk for certain types of cancer such as colorectal cancer. Foods that contain fibre are also rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals that could further reduce the risk.

What are some good ways to increase fibre in the diet?

Refined or processed foods are lower in fibre content, hence why whole grains should be an integral part of your diet. There are many simple ways to add whole grains to your meals:

Start the day with fibre

• Whole grain cereals can boost fibre intake at breakfast
• Switching breakfast cereals from ‘Corn Flakes’ to ‘Bran Flakes’ can add an extra 6 grams of fibre to your diet; switching to ‘All-Bran’cereal will boost it even more
• Oatmeal is rich in soluble fibre, making it a good option for breakfast cereal

Replace white rice, bread and pasta with brown rice and whole grain products

• Experiment with brown rice, barley, whole-wheat pasta and bulgur wheat
• Include more tubers such as sweet potato, cassava and yam
• Choose whole grain or multi grain bread for toast/sandwiches as they are higher in fibre than common options like white rice and bread

Fibre from fruits and vegetables

Most fruits and vegetables are high in fibre. Here are some simple strategies to help include more in your daily diet:

1.                    Include fruit such as banana, mango and papaya to your breakfast by adding these to your cereal or yoghurt or eating them separately.

2.                    Keep fruits/vegetables at your fingertips. For example, wash and cut fruits/vegetables and put them in the fridge for a quick, healthy snack and choose recipes that feature these high-fibre ingredients, like vegetable stir-fries or fruit salads.

3.                    Eat whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juice as you will get more fibre and consume fewer calories if you eat the whole fruit. A 250ml glass of orange juice, for example, contains almost no fibre and about 110 calories, while one medium fresh orange contains about 3g of fibre and only 60 calories.

4.                    Peeling can reduce the amount of fibre so try to eat the edible peel of fruits and vegetables such as guava, star-fruit, cucumber and eggplant.

5.                    Add nuts, seeds, pulses like kidney or black beans, peas & lentils as well as vegetables to soups, stews and salads for tasty high-fibre additions.

References: Canadian Diabetes Association; eatright; webmed; NHS; Textbook of Nutrition Science by B. Srilakshmi; Manual of Dietetic Practice by Bryony Thomas and J. Bishop

Photo source: Chakru