Posts Tagged ‘The risks’
The Health Effects of Fiber
October 22nd, 2009 No Comments Posted in Diet, Health
The Health Effects of Fiber
Fiber is hardly the cure-all some have suggested. But neither does fiber belong at the bottom of the nutritional totem pole, where it resided for more than a century as a nonessential dietary ingredient. There is good evidence, for example, that certain dietary fibers can lower blood cholesterol levels and improve the processing of blood sugar by diabetics.
Although the evidence is conflicting, high-fiber diets have been helpful to many patients with chronic intestinal disorders, such as constipation, spastic colon, diverticular disease, and even Crohn’s disease (regional enteritis or ileitis). And there is some evidence that fiber can help to lower blood pressure and ward off gallstones.