What is dietary fiber?

Answer 1

Fiber is a complex carbohydrate that consists of cellulose, pectin, gum, mucilage, hemicellulose, and lignin. You don't completely digest and absorb fiber, because you don't have the enzymes required to disassemble it. For that reason, fiber accounts for less than the four Calories per gram of other carbohydrates.

The main function of fiber is to keep the digestive system healthy and functioning properly. Fiber aids and speeds up the excretion of waste and toxins from the body, preventing them from sitting in the intestine or bowel for too long, which could cause a build-up and lead to several diseases.

Fiber passes through the body virtually unchanged along with other digested food until it arrives at the large intestine. What happens next depends on which type of fiber is present.

Fiber keeps you from getting constipated.

Answer 2

Fiber in plant cell walls is insoluble in water. These include cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Insoluble fiber binds water as it passes through the digestive tract, making stools softer and bulkier. It also stimulates peristalsis-the rhythmic contractions that move food along the digestive tract, preventing constipation and hemmorhoids. Insoluble fiber also prevents irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis, a painful inflammation of the diverticula, which are pouches of the intestinal wall. Because fiber accelerates the transit of carcinogens in the gastrointestinal tract, colon cells are exposed for a shorter time to these toxins, and the likelihood of colon cancer is reduced. Insoluble fiber also helps to prevent gallstones in women.

Answer 3

• Fiber refers to long chain complex carbohydrates (only made by plants)
• Soluble fiber is fiber that dissolves in water
• Insoluble fiber is fiber that does not dissolve in water

Insoluble fiber is important in the human diet as it gives the intestinal muscles something to push against when trying to move things down the length of the intestines.

Answer 4

name implies, does not dissolve in water because it contains high amounts of cellulose. Insoluble fiber is found in grain brans, fruit pulp, and

Answer 5

Some examples: oatmeal, oat cereal, lentils, apples, Oranges, Pears, oat bran, strawberries, nuts, flaxseeds, beans, dried peas, blueberries, psyllium, cucumbers, celery, and carrots.