1. The Importance of Fiber for Digestive Health
What happens to fiber during digestion? Fiber retains moisture in the gut and performs an essential role for the efficacy of the muscle wall. This allows for proper movement of stool and removal of toxins and waste from the gut, which helps prevent constipation, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, and keeps your colon happy and healthy. The volatile fatty acids are also used, decreasing the risk of colon cancer developing. In addition, a greater proportion of fiber decreases the transit time of food and promotes healthier bowel movements. Rapidly passing food through the body does not damage the intestinal cells and reduces the chance of colon cancer.
Calcium and vitamin D have a high profile in nutrition circles, but what about the under-recognized fiber? Every single day, you depend on this often-forgotten nutrient for essential health benefits. Plain and simple, fiber is a carbohydrate found in the cell wall of a plant that is not digested. Key sources include non-starchy vegetables and grains, legumes, beans, nuts, seeds, and fruit. But why is it so important? Here, we take a brief look at the importance of fiber in digestive health.
2. The Role of Soluble Fibers in Maintaining Healthy Cholesterol and Blood Sugar Levels
The soluble fibers are insoluble in water and encountering a compact colon environment before microbial fermentation. Bacterial metabolism – food first encounters a reducing environment during bacterial metabolism to create conditions conducive to the development of probiotic bacteria. Breakdown product – After probiotic fermentation, soluble fibers are hydrolyzed into monosaccharides, disaccharides, and short-chain fatty acids, antioxidants. The majority of soluble fibers are also present in the colon’s intercellular clefts, allowing it to more readily bind with and remove toxic molecules from metabolism (such as ammonia, bile acids, and free radicals). This can also promote the body’s defense system, reduce the body’s inflammatory factors, and protect the body’s cells from these toxic substances. After binding to cholesterol or bile acid, it is excreted along with the digestive tract, which is the being mark of soluble fiber.
Soluble fiber has heart health benefits as well. To explain, soluble fiber blocks the absorption of cholesterol so that the body can effectively lower its fat and cholesterol levels. Including soluble fiber in your daily diet can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. Another mechanism by which soluble fiber reduces the risk of heart disease is that the binding of bile acids in soluble fiber can enhance postprandial sugar metabolism. This means that after eating, the blood sugar level does not rise too high and stimulate the insulin secretion, which has long-term effects on the prevention and treatment of obesity. Soluble fiber can promote the production of propionate by intestinal bacteria and reduce the amount of cholesterol stored in the liver, which can reduce inflammation and regulate lipid metabolism and energy metabolism more effectively.
3. The Impact of Processed Foods and Modern Farming Techniques on Fiber Intake
Many modern food sources also contain severely limited nutrient content and low fiber, leading to undigested food in the colon. The average American diet from 1965-1990 was compared with a hunter-gatherer diet. The average American diet garnered 72.4% of its carbohydrates from grains and sugars, compared with 44.9% in a hunter-gatherer diet. Sugar and non-grain carbohydrates produced a significantly more narrow amino acid imbalance and a higher glycemic load that will eventually lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, the high availability of food as a result of modern farming techniques that is rich in sugar and nutrients coupled with a sedentary lifestyle has created an overpopulated generation of Americans. There is no gene yet to slow or stop the current level of overeating, but Americans continue to have a hyper-colic diet that deprives the digestive system of nutrients that soothe mucous membranes, create valuable energy, and reduce the likelihood of bacterial lining and toxins.
Not only has the amount of fiber American diets contain decreased, but the quality of the fiber has been affected. Foods high in refined sugars and corn syrup contain the most refined wheat flour which is low in fiber. Fiber that has been stripped from the wheat germ contains the most nutrients. Fiber can also be lost in processing when fruit or vegetables are peeled. If fruit and vegetables are overcooked, their fiber becomes mushy and can be hard to digest. The quality of the fiber is altered, depending on the chosen preparation. Additionally, many people who live in industrialized nations consume mostly processed, pre-packaged and fast foods. Chemical processing can inactivate enzymes that are responsible for the breakdown of complex carbohydrates found in legumes and the outer bran layer of wheat products. A study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom found that the more processed foods a person ate, the lower the intake of fiber in their diet. The team also found that people who consumed diets high in processed foods tended to be younger.
4. Unicity Balance: A Pre-Meal Drink for Managing Dietary Carbohydrates and Cholesterol
This pre-meal supplement from Unicity should help you manage your dietary carbohydrates. Unicity Balance’s natural ingredients have been demonstrated in research to decrease the speed of food digestion, which may result in carbohydrate and triglyceride digestion being gradually slowed, helping to manage post-meal blood sugar and triglyceride levels. This also leads to an increase in insulin sensitivity. Unicity Balance is not meant to replace prescribed medication or daily physical activity. Another product from the Balance range is GI Balance, a blend of prebiotics and probiotics. While many products on the market contain probiotics, few also contain prebiotics and all of the nutrients needed to help feed the beneficial bacteria in the colon. With 10 billion colony-forming units from up to 10 bacterial cultures and two sources of dietary fiber, GI Balance is meant to help achieve a better balance of your gut microbiome, helping to support digestive health and a healthy immune response.
Two of the largest categories in the supplement industry today are products claiming to support digestive and/or cardiovascular health. Unicity Balance is the first to blend both functions. On the latest episode of the Nutrition Business Journal podcast, Unicity’s Jeff Anderson discusses the company’s products designed for metabolic health, including Unicity Balance, and how the direct-selling company is navigating the new normal by investing in technology and social commerce. Unicity Balance is a proprietary blend shown to affect the release of dietary fats and cholesterol in the blood, a natural and safe way to manage your cholesterol as part of a diet that’s beneficial to your heart. This makes Unicity Balance an excellent companion on a heart health lifestyle with Cardioghi, who is also said to support cardiovascular health.
