Heart Disease

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• Fibre Tackles Obesity – Insoluble fibre increases the bulk by soaking up water and soluble fibre mixes with the liquid in the stomach to form a gelatinous mass that reduces appetite and you eat less. Fibre-rich diet of complex carbohydrates with low glycemic index whole foods is processed more slowly which promotes satiety for longer and exhausts hunger. Just be sure to drink plenty of water if you eat fibre-rich whole food diet. What is more, the dietary fibre (soluble and insoluble) is not digested by the gut, so it adds only negligible calories. Thus, eating fibre-rich fruits, vegetables and wholegrains can be a big step in taking off extra weight and in abating and controlling obesity.
• Fibre clobbers Cholesterol and keeps Cardiovascular Diseases at Bay – This benefit comes from soluble fibre. Studies show that regular intake of foods high in soluble fibre – such as oats, beans and soyabeans – can reduce blood cholesterol levels by blocking its absorption. The soluble fibre, particularly beta-glucon fibre in oats, works by binding digestive bile acids; which are made from cholesterol and shunting them out of the body before they can be recycled. So the body forces the liver to produce more bile acids for digestion, and to do so it turns to cholesterol in the blood. As bile acids are eliminated, and more cholesterol is used up, it leads to a gradual drop in the cholesterol levels in the blood. Fermentation of the soluble fibre during digestion creates chemicals that may further slow the liver’s production of cholesterol itself. Cereal soluble fibre seems to be more protective against coronary heart disease than the soluble fibre from fruits and vegetables. The good news is that nearly all of the total cholesterol reduction through the consumption of soluble fibre, comes from the bad LDL cholesterol and not the good HDL cholesterol. This means an even better ratio between total cholesterol and HDL, ensuring increased protection against cardiovascular diseases. Even an extra 5 grams of soluble fibre a day for persons not consuming sufficient fibre, lowers the total cholesterol level by 8 points meaning a 12% lower risk of heart attack.
• Defeats Diabetes – Numerous studies have linked fibre, especially the soluble variety, intake to reduced risk of insulin resistance and type-II diabetes. High fibre foods take a long time to digest, thereby helping to delay the absorption of glucose in the small intestine and also slowing the rate of glucose uptake from the small intestine. This means the sugars from the high fibre foods are released slowly into the bloodstream, need less insulin, prevent sharp rises and falls in blood sugar levels and ensure that you have plenty of energy throughout the day. A high fibre, low fat diet is good for the lipid profile and lowers blood sugar and blood cholesterol by an average of 32%.
• Busts Blood Pressure – Researchers have concluded that consumption of 25-30 grams of total fibre everyday lowers both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, thus reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Prevents Colon and Rectal Cancers – High fibre (especially insoluble variety) diet defends against colon and rectal cancers in two ways. Firstly, the more bulky, fibre rich foods people eat, the less unhealthy fat they consume. More animal fat in diet causes higher incidence of bowel cancer. Secondly, a healthy portion of fibre dilutes and speeds cancer causing compounds and toxins out of the digestive system more quickly – before they have a chance to make trouble to the colon walls. There is also evidence that healthy gut flora, encouraged by prebiotic fibre, helps protect against bowel and some other cancers – this may be linked to the production of butyric acid in a healthy gut which has been shown to lower the incidence of cancer cell growth. Fibre is known to reduce bile acids in the intestines, as well as certain bacterial enzymes, both of which are possible cancer promoters.