Types of Fibers

The fiber is plant material that can not be digested by human enzymes. We use it when we eat whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Because you can not digest fiber, it moves through the digestive tract and many ends excreted in the stool. But despite the fact that our body does not absorb fiber, it is important to our health.

Fiber has a number of chemicals with different physical properties and physiological effects on the body. Most fibers are carbohydrates. Lignin is an exception. It is chemically a carbohydrate, but is classified as the fiber, because of the way it behaves in the digestive tract. The fibers are usually classified according to their solubility in water.

There are two types of fiber:

    * Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water. These fibers are mainly parts of the plant. Chemically they are lignin and cellulose and hemicellulose sure. Food sources of insoluble fiber are wheat bran, rye bran, and vegetables like celery and broccoli.

    * Soluble fibers form viscous solutions when placed in water. Soluble fiber in oats are cooked oatmeal thick gel-like consistency. Soluble fiber is found in and around the plant cells and pectin, gums and some hemicelluloses. Food sources of soluble fiber in oats, apples, beans and seaweed. Soluble fibers are often added to foods during processing. Pectin is used to thicken jams and jellies. Gums such as gum arabic, gum karaya won, guar gum and locust bushes, trees and seed capsules and foods such as mayonnaise, yogurt and pastries as stabilizers and thickeners are added. Agar-agar, carrageenan and alginates are seaweed, and are used as thickeners and stabilizers in foods such as salad dressing and ice cream. Pectin and gums are also used in products with low fat and slippery that the texture of fat to imitate.

Both types of fibers behave somewhat differently in the gastrointestinal tract. Soluble fiber absorbs water to give viscous solutions, the rate at which nutrients are absorbed slowly into the small intestine. Since soluble or insoluble fiber can not be digested in the small intestine, which can be absorbed and not allow them to travel in the colon. The bacteria in the colon digest soluble fiber in gas and acids to produce small amounts are recorded and body. Some soluble fibers and insoluble fibers are most excreted in the stool.

Insoluble fiber does not absorb water and are not degraded by bacteria, but increase the amount of material in the intestine. If the soluble and insoluble fiber consumed together, increases the growth of the mass of insoluble dietary fiber and soluble fiber excess water, the volume of material in the gut. The larger the mass, the softer material strengthens the muscles of the intestine by peristalsis stimulating muscular rhythmic contractions that push food through the digestive tract. A diet rich in fiber can simply pass the stool and reduce the execution time, the time required to move food and stool through the gastrointestinal tract. The fiber

Posted in: Nutrition