Fibre has a diverse role to play starting from improved laxation and lowering cardiovascular disease risk, weight management, etc. Due to drastic lifestyle changes overall and adopting the processed foods trend, has minimized the fibre level in our meals to a bare minimum.
Let’s have a look at how fibres have a role to play in our health:
Role in bowel health
More amount of fibre in our diet makes the stool bulky which is due to the presence of fibre and absorbed water. This leads to easy defecation and hence acts as a natural laxative. Presence of enough fibre in our diet is therefore looked up in a condition such as constipation.
Controlling sugar level:
One of the simplest connections between fibre and sugar level is that high fibre food causes a slow release of glucose into the bloodstream and hence doesn’t shoot up the glucose level instantly.
There is a number of studies which concludes that including more fibre in diet regulates the blood sugar levels. Hence diabetic person should always opt for high fibre food rather than refined stuff. Not just in diabetes, one can proactively start with high fibre meal right away as a preventive action against diabetes.
Healthy body weight :
The satiety centre in our brain gets activated after 20 minutes. So when you are eating fast you tend to eat more without any extra requirement. High fibre meals consume more time as it has to be chewed thoroughly to be able to gulp it. Hence the brain has enough time to activate the satiety centre. At the same time, high fibre meals are energy dense but, low in fat which also contributes to maintaining healthy body weight.
Cardiovascular health
Soluble fibre absorbs the cholesterol in the intestine which is eliminated in the stools and thereby makes it unavailable for the body. Apart from the cholesterol-lowering effect of fibre, it is also found to prevent hypertension and therefore also associated with lowering the risk of hypertension problems such as atherosclerosis, strokes etc.
Immune function
Fibre also acts as a prebiotic which helps in developing a healthy gut microflora in the intestine which contributes to the immune function. Some studies also say that there is more resistance to infection in an individual with consuming high fibre meals.
As fibre plays such a diverse role in our health, there’s a need to look for fibre in our meals and make deliberate positive changes to add high fibre food in our diet like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans etc.
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