Gut Issues

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on them - in turn
producing intestinal gas. No wonder, then, that dietary fibre has been
unwelcome in many of history's nicer neighborhoods.

Even 20th century doctors reasoned that since the bulky material provided
not a single nutrient, it would only strain already troubled guts.
Accordingly, they recommended low-fibre diets for patients suffering from
hemorrhoids and other colon disorders often found in the West. But then,
about 15 years ago, the prescription was reversed as researchers found
that poor Africans, who eats lots of fibre, rarely suffer from such
complaints. Fibre, the researchers learned, actually eases the bowel's
burden by mixing with water and other food residues.

Soon, nutritionists came to see the low-fibre diet of most North Americans
as a culprit in the onset of disorders ranging from tooth decay to heart
attacks. Increasing the consumption of certain kinds of fibre, they found,
could slow the body's absorption of sugars to which diabetics ...

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