Dietary fibers and their importance are relevant topics that always appear in everyday and academic conversations for helping to prevent cancer, treat obesity, and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
If you want to understand these substances and how to include them in your diet in the best possible way, check out the tips!
Dietary Fiber, And Why Is It Important?
Dietary fibers are non-digestible carbohydrates that resist gastrointestinal digestion and absorption and are present in a wide range of vegetables, such as fruits, vegetables, vegetables, and cereals.
They play a vital physiological role in maintaining health. They are associated with benefits such as improving intestinal functioning, reducing blood cholesterol and blood glucose levels, improving immunity, and promoting good mood.
There are two main types of fiber, which act differently in the body:
- Insoluble fiber: found in cereals, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. They work mainly in the large intestine, preventing constipation and diseases such as diverticulitis and colon cancer;
- Soluble fiber: found in foods such as oats, barley, citrus fruits, apples, and guava, it acts more in the small intestine and stomach. Its most common effects are increased satiety, helping to treat overweight and obesity, increased blood glucose, which is essential for the treatment of diabetes, and increased excretion of bile acids, which makes the body absorb less cholesterol.
Healthy Food: The Perfect Union For Intestinal Health
Now that you know all that dietary fiber can offer your health, you must be excited to include it in your diet, right?
The article “Consumption of dietary fiber in the adult population” brings some practical tips to include fiber in the diet efficiently and without stress:
- Increase the consumption of whole fruits per day and, if possible, eat with peel and pomace to obtain more fiber;
- Give preference to whole grains (or products made with them, as with some bread) over refined cereals. It is also possible to add wheat, oat, or rice bran in the preparation of foods such as soups and smoothies;
- Consume legumes regularly. The combination of rice and beans is perfect for a high-fiber diet;
- Increase vegetable consumption. In addition to the classic salads, you can add stalk and leaf bran to soups, stews, dumplings, etc.
But, as we know, sometimes the routine gets tight, and it is not always possible to dedicate yourself to including all the necessary foods in your diet. A single serving contains 5.7g of fiber, which helps balance the intestinal microbiota, promoting several benefits, especially for bowel function and health.
Fibers contain inulin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and polydextrose, which work as food for the “good” bacteria in our intestines, such as lactobacillus, helping to restore the intestinal flora and relieving the discomfort caused by a lazy intestine.
How Does Glutamine Help Gut Health?
When the intestine is not doing well, using glutamine can help restore its normal functioning, contribute to the treatment of dysbiosis, and bring back healthy intestinal flora. At the same time, this nutrient strengthens the immune system and elevates our antioxidant defenses.
Intestinal dysbiosis is the imbalance of the intestinal bacterial flora, which is when harmful bacteria stand out from good bacteria. This situation causes numerous undesirable effects on the body, such as:
- poor digestion of food;
- Fermentation of poorly digested food in the intestine, which leads to the formation of intestinal gas;
- decreased absorption of nutrients, generating nutritional deficiencies;
- Malaise, tiredness, nausea, bad mood, irritation (this is because many of the substances that generate well-being are produced in the intestine and, if it is in dysbiosis, this production is compromised);
- Intestinal malfunction: constipation (stuck bowel) or diarrhea (leaky bowel).
The alteration of the intestinal microbiota (that is, the group of microorganisms that live in the intestine) can be caused by several factors. Some of them are:
- inadequate nutrition;
- indiscriminate use of antibiotics;
- the abuse of laxatives;
- excess consumption of processed foods;
- overexposure to environmental toxins;
- pathological conditions, such as chronic diseases;
- stress and anxiety.
Supplementation with glutamine contributes to improving dysbiosis because it decreases bacterial translocation, favoring the growth of good bacteria. In addition, it strengthens the immune system, reducing the risk of opportunistic bacteria growing and infecting our body.
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