Soluble Fiber Helps With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Author: Joe Fowler Time for reading: ~2 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022

Soluble Fiber Helps With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

CHAPTERS (Table Of Contents)

Most Often The Disease Occurs With The Following Complaints:

Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, but without morphological changes on the part of the colon ....

Dutch scientists have conducted a study showing that daily intake of soluble fiber gives the best results in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, which proceeds with a diverse clinical picture and recurrent course, but without morphological changes in the colon.

The disease is widespread worldwide, with women being the most commonly affected. Usually the first symptoms appear at the age of 30-50.

Most often the disease occurs with the following complaints:

abdominal pain or discomfort - most often in the navel
bloating - usually occurs during the day, while in the morning it is absent. It is due to the reduced tolerance to the gas collections produced in the intestine, and not to their increased formation.
alternating constipation with diarrhea
upper-dyspeptic complaints - Significantly less often symptoms such as burning, nausea, vomiting

The characteristic of the disease is the exacerbation of symptoms during stress.

The results of the study, in the British Medical Journal, clearly show the beneficial effect of soluble fiber on various problems of the gastrointestinal tract, including irritable bowel syndrome.

Soluble fiber differs in that it forms a gel-like layer around food. In this way, they slow down the absorption of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides from food into the blood. Oat bran, legumes, unpeeled fruits and vegetables are rich in soluble fiber.

The study included 275 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.

Participants were divided into three groups, the first taking 10 grams of bran, the second - 10 grams of soluble fiber, and the third - 10 grams of placebo in the form of rice flour. Volunteers took the supplement twice a day for 12 weeks.

Data collected and analyzed after the end of the study showed that in patients taking soluble plant fibers, complaints were significantly reduced. Bran containing mostly insoluble fiber, in some cases even worsen the symptoms of the disease. Some of the volunteers who took bran even withdrew from the study because their condition had worsened.

Experts advise patients suffering from digestive problems to consume fruits and vegetables without peeling them and remind that the apple consumed with the peel provides many times more soluble fiber than the squeezed apple juice.

The authors of the study explain that it is difficult for patients to obtain the required amount of soluble fiber only through food and therefore need to take nutritional supplements.

Soluble Fiber Helps With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

CHAPTERS (Table Of Contents)

Most often the disease occurs with the following complaints:

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