Life Sciences SIG: Gut Issues - Essay About Dietary Fibers

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

stream fueling muscles and nerves. Rather, when
eaten they tumble intact through the stomach and small intestine and end up
in the colon where billions of bacterial feed 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 to create large,

Soon, nutritionists came to see the low-fibre diet of most North
Americans as a culprit in the onset of ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: