Fiber is essential for regular bowel movements, cholesterol and blood sugar management, healthy gut bacteria, and preventing chronic disease, among other functions.
In populations that eat a regular high-fiber diet of more than 50 grams of fiber per day, like rural South Africans, chronic diseases such as colon cancer are very low. This is a stark contrast to the much higher risk of colon cancer among African-Americans who eat a higher fat diet with only about 15 grams of fiber per day.The benefits of fiber in diet.
In general, it’s better to get fiber from the food you eat than from supplements. This is because high-fiber foods also have important vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy.
There are two main types of fiber and each plays different roles in digestion.
Each type of fiber plays a different role in digestion: insoluble and soluble fiber.
1) Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool and helps food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines. It also helps balance the pH in your intestine, and may prevent diverticulitis, an inflammation of the intestine, as well as colon cancer. Insoluble fiber physically fills up space in the stomach and intestines, creating the sensation of being full which help people manage their weight. e.g garri and wheat bran.
2) Soluble fiber absorbs water and forms a gel-like substance with food as it’s digested. This in turn slows down digestion and helps you feel full faster, which is important in weight management. It may also help lower your risk of heart disease, regulate your blood sugar, and help reduce LDL cholesterol.e.g . apples, carrots
Garri can be fortified to make functional foods to promote good health. Garri can be used to produce different meals for different health needs.
Fermentable fibers can be from both these categories, though more often soluble fibers are fermented. Fibers fermented by bacteria help increase the bacteria in the colon, which aids digestion.
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