List and discuss seven benefits of fiber

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Unlike high-carbohydrate diets rich in added sugars that can alter blood lipids to favor heart disease, those rich in whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits may protect against heart attack and stroke by lowering blood pressure, improving blood lipids, and reducing inflammation. Such diets are low in animal fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fibers, vegetable proteins, and phytochemicals—all factors associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

High-fiber foods—especially whole grains—play a key role managing and preventing type 2 diabetes. When soluble fibers trap nutrients and delay their transit through the GI tract, glucose absorption is slowed, which helps to prevent glucose surge and rebound.

Dietary fibers also enhance the health of the large intestine. The healthier the intestinal walls, the better they can block absorption of unwanted constituents. Taken with ample fluids, insoluble fibers such as cellulose (as in cereal brans, fruits, and vegetables) increase stool weight, ease passage, and reduce transit time.

Research studies suggest that a high-fiber diet protects against colon cancer. When a large study of diet and cancer examined the diets of more than a half million people in ten countries for several years, the researchers found an inverse association between dietary fiber and colon cancer. People who ate the most dietary fiber (35 grams per day) reduced their risk of colon cancer by 40 percent compared with those who ate the least fiber (15 grams per day). Importantly, the study focused on dietary fiber, not fiber supplements or additives, which lack valuable nutrients and phytochemicals that also help protect against cancer. Plant foods—vegetables, fruits, and whole-grain products—reduce the risks of colon and rectal cancers.
Fibers may help prevent colon cancer by diluting, binding, and rapidly removing potential cancer-causing agents from the colon. In addition, soluble fibers stimulate bacterial fermentation of resistant starch and fiber in the colon, a process that produces short-chain fatty acids that lower the pH. These small fat molecules activate cancer-killing enzymes and inhibit inflammation in the colon.

High-fiber and whole-grain foods may help a person to maintain a healthy body weight. Foods rich in fiber tend to be low in fat and added sugars and can therefore prevent weight gain and promote weight loss by delivering less energy per bite. In addition, as fibers absorb water from the digestive juices, they swell, creating feelings of fullness, lowering food intake, and delaying hunger.