{"id":3605,"date":"2023-05-11T19:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T19:00:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T12:00:03","slug":"fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=3605","title":{"rendered":"Fiber: An Effective Anti-Inflammatory?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Most Americans get less than half the recommended minimum daily fiber intake, which is problematic as the benefits of fiber go way beyond bowel regularity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHippocrates, the father of western medicine, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27594542\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">believed<\/a> that all disease begins in the gut.\u201d Of course, he also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/7964210\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thought<\/a> women were hysterical because of their \u201cwandering uterus.\u201d So much for ancient medical wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>Even though a condition like constipation can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27271918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have<\/a> a \u201cmajor impact\u2026on physical, mental and social well-being,\u201d it\u2019s \u201coften overlooked in health care.\u201d This may be because poop-talk is \u201ctaboo,\u201d but constipation can have \u201ca severe influence on\u2026everyday living,\u201d both psychologically and physically. Constipation can literally hurt, causing \u201cabdominal discomfort and pain, straining, hard stool, infrequent bowel movements, bloating and nausea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No wonder \u201claxatives are among the most commonly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/11535863\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">used<\/a> drugs\u2026Most are quite safe when used judiciously, intermittently,\u201d but because people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26273930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">use<\/a> them so frequently, laxatives end up being one of the most common causes of adverse drug reactions. Perhaps treatment should instead <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17219073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">address<\/a> the underlying problem that causes constipation, such as lack of dietary fiber. You probably don\u2019t need a meta-analysis to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23326148\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demonstrate<\/a> that \u201cdietary fiber can obviously increase stool frequency in patients with constipation.\u201d I discuss this in my video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-is-fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Friday Favorites: Is Fiber an Effective Anti-Inflammatory?<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPopulations in most Western countries must be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/6324574\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">considered<\/a> on world standards to be almost universally constipated.\u201d In the Western world, constipation is an epidemic among the elderly, but among those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/104901\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">centering<\/a> their diets around fiber-rich foods, it\u2019s simply not a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Where is fiber found? As you can see at 1:37 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/is-fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, a patient summary in the <em>J<\/em><em>ournal of the American Medical Association<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26757481\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sums<\/a> it up with an illustration of whole, unrefined plant foods. For those of us who may be smug about our hearty intake of fruits and vegetables, we need to realize that \u201cfruits and leafy vegetables <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/104901\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> the poorest source of plant fiber.\u201d Why? Because they\u2019re 90 percent water. Root vegetables have more fiber, but the real superstars include legumes, such as beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils, and we can\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26950143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forget<\/a> whole grains. What about fruits? Gram for gram, fiber from fruits does not seem to have the same effect. It may take 25 grams of fruit fiber to double stool output, something just 10 grams of whole-grain fiber or vegetable fiber can do, as you can see <span class=\"notion-enable-hover\" data-token-index=\"0\" data-reactroot=\"\">in the graph below and <\/span>at 2:08 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/is-fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-91601\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1-37-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-91603\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-08-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s not all fiber can do. If you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/20810606\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eat<\/a> some whole-grain barley for supper, your good gut bacteria are having it for breakfast the next morning. This releases butyrate into our bloodstream, a compound that seems to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/20823773\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exert<\/a> broad anti-inflammatory activities.\u201d This could help explain why researchers found that \u201csignificant decreases in the prevalence of inflammation were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24135514\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">associated<\/a> with increasing dietary fiber intakes for all group.\u201d As you can see at 2:44 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/is-fiber-an-effective-anti-inflammatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, the group with the highest fiber intake in the study had decreased inflammation\u2014and that was with getting just the <em>minimum<\/em> recommended daily intake of fiber. So, if you have knee pain, for instance, should you eat more fiber-rich foods?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-91605\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/2-44-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDietary Fiber Intake in Relation to Knee Pain Trajectory\u201d is a study that <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27899003\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">followed<\/a> thousands of patients. Researchers found that a high intake of dietary fiber, which is to say just the minimum recommended intake, was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27899003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">associated<\/a> with a lower risk of developing moderate or severe knee pain over time.\u201d What\u2019s more, two Framingham studies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28536116\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> that higher fiber intake was related to a lower risk of having symptomatic osteoarthritis in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t a variety of diseases have an inflammatory component, though? How about \u201cfiber consumption and all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortalities\u201d? Researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25382817\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> that, compared with those who consumed the least amount of fiber, those who consumed the most had 23 percent less cardiovascular disease mortality, a 17 percent lower risk of dying from cancer, and 23 percent lower mortality from all causes put together. \u201cUnfortunately, most persons in the United States consume less than half of the recommended intake of dietary fiber daily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25382817\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suggest<\/a> all sorts of potential mechanisms for which fiber could be life-saving, such as improving cholesterol, immune function, and blood sugar control, but it may also have more of a direct cause. If you ask people to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/6229907\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bear<\/a> down as if they\u2019re straining on stool, they can experience a rapid increase in intracranial pressure\u2014that is, pressure inside your skull. And, if you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21546472\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">look<\/a> at trigger factors for the rupture of intracranial aneurysms and ask hundreds of people who had strokes or bleeds within their brains, one of the biggest trigger factors noted was \u201cstraining for defecation,\u201d multiplying your risk by seven-fold.<\/p>\n<p>This is one of the reasons legumes and whole grains are emphasized in my Daily Dozen checklist, which compiles all of the healthiest of healthy foods to ideally fit into your daily routine. It\u2019s available (for free, of course!) as an app (Dr. Greger\u2019s Daily Dozen) on [iPhone] and [Android], and you can learn all about it in my video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/dr-gregers-daily-dozen-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Greger\u2019s Daily Dozen Checklist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you buy processed grain products, how do you know they contain enough fiber? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-five-to-one-fiber-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Five-to-One Fiber Rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most Americans get less than half the recommended minimum daily fiber intake, which is problematic as the benefits of fiber go way beyond bowel regularity. \u201cHippocrates, the father of western medicine, believed that all disease begins in the gut.\u201d Of course, he also thought women were hysterical because of their \u201cwandering uterus.\u201d So much for &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}