Tag Archive for: fiber

When Supplements Aren’t Absorbed

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If you take any type of dietary supplement, you want to make sure that you’re getting the active ingredient whether that’s turmeric, the mineral iron, or omega-3 fatty acids. The problem is that whether in its natural form in food or put into dietary supplements, nutrients can be difficult to absorb. In addition, the same holds true for pharmaceuticals as well. Here are some of the reasons why:

  • Taking supplements with food is important for nutrient absorption. If they’re fat-soluble, they need fat present to be absorbed. That’s problematic if someone takes the supplement without food or is on a low-fat diet.
  • I seem to always talk about increasing fiber in the diet, and we should, but fiber can interfere with the absorption of some nutrients. It may be the increased transit time or some form of mechanical blockage, but it happens.
  • Finally, gut health may also impact the absorption of nutrients. Lack of enzymes, too acidic or too alkaline, or lack of a healthy microbiome can also impact nutrient absorption.

All is not lost; the pharmaceutical and supplement industries have been working on ways to help deliver more active ingredients. I’ll cover those on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Yes, Fiber Is Healthy

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Almost all Americans need to increase their fiber intake by eating foods containing fiber as well as using supplemental fiber if needed. I do and will continue to do so with one caveat, which I’ll talk about later. Let’s get into the research that caused the headline about fiber and cancer.

Genetic Defects Were the Underlying Problem

Based on observational studies, researchers examined the role of soluble fiber on metabolic syndrome (MetS) in mice—not just any mice but mice that had a specific defective gene called Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5). These mice develop MetS when fed a modern diet. Researchers used several types of soluble fiber, including inulin and pectin. While the symptoms associated with MetS were decreased, they discovered that close to half the TLR5 mice developed liver cancer while the normal controls did not. Why? One thing they noted was that the TLR5 mice became jaundiced due to bile acids in their blood.

Based on prior research, researchers suspected that something was causing bile acids to enter the blood stream. There’s a strain of mice, C57BL/6 mice, that has a defect which causes portosystemic shunt (an abnormal vein connecting the blood supply returning from the intestines to the vein returning blood to the heart, bypassing the liver). That allows bile acids to build up in the blood stream, damaging the liver, and causing liver cancer. The use of high soluble-fiber diets speeds up that process because of the fermentation of the fiber by probiotics. Hence that’s why the results associated fiber with cancer. But is it an issue in humans?

Soluble Fiber and Liver Cancer in Humans

I think the risk to humans is negligible for two reasons. Based on the latest data, the risk for portosystemic shunt in humans is about one in 30,000. The researchers suggest it may be higher, but we don’t test for it. The caveat I mentioned? Bile acids can be detected by a simple blood test; if you want to be sure you don’t have an issue, just request that test to eliminate the shunt or any other cause of bile acids in your blood.

The second reason is that the researchers fed the mice 10% of their diet as fiber. In one trial the inulin content was 2.5% while in another it was 7.5% of the mice’s dietary intake. The Daily Value for humans eating 2,000 calories per day is 1.4% or 28 grams, and that’s mixed fibers. We currently average 0.7%. It doesn’t seem likely that even people who supplement their food with fiber supplements will reach a comparably high level of intake.

The Bottom Line

Don’t for a minute think that this research isn’t important because it is. We live in a society that believes if some is good, more must be better. What they’ve shown is that some soluble fiber is good for weight loss and the symptoms of MetS, as well as keeping your bowels moving smoothly. We don’t need to overdo anything; we just need to do the average. Try to get about 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily from foods and supplements, get the blood bile test to be extra cautious, and you’ll be fine.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.09.004
2. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2022.08.033

Does Fiber Cause Liver Cancer?

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What? Okay, that isn’t exactly what the health headline said. An article published in SciTechDaily last week said Diets High in Processed Fiber May Increase Cancer Risk. It appears they published the press release about a study from the University of Toledo. What piqued my interest was that it focused on my favorite fiber, inulin. That’s one of the soluble fibers I use together with psyllium husks every day.

What made this particularly disturbing was that the processed fiber appeared to contribute to a particularly nasty type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma. As you know, headlines are meant to grab your attention, but everything isn’t always as portrayed.

Let’s begin with some facts. In the U.S., 28,600 men and 12,660 women will be diagnosed with all forms of liver cancer in 2022. While it’s in the top 10 types of cancer, the U.S. has a population of 330 million, so that’s still not a huge number; rates are higher in less developed countries.

Typical intake of all types of fiber is about 14 grams on average, less than half of what the fiber intake should be. Depending on diet, fiber intake should be about 1.4% of the dietary intake by volume.

On Saturday, I’ll talk about the studies and put things in perspective. I’ll also be taking my fiber every day as well.

Tomorrow night is the monthly Insider Conference Call. I’ll be covering several health topics in the news as well as the 3/7 weight training program. Become and Insider before 8 p.m. Wednesday and you can join the call at 9 p.m.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: SciTechDaily. 10/10/2022. Diets High in Processed Fiber May Increase Cancer Risk

Side 2: Why Powders Are Better than Plants

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You might have thought that I was a food-only proponent when it comes to nutrition. Not in the least—I’m a big fan of the right kinds of supplements. I think we should start with real food, but we also have to acknowledge that the average person’s plant intake is woefully low: one or two servings per day of vegetables and two or three servings of fruit. It’s even less if we deduct juices. There are many reasons for that lack, but we need a practical solution. Powders can provide a partial answer, whether mixed into smoothies or plain water or consumed as capsules.

The primary reason vegetable and fruit powders are better is consistent content. If the label says 500 mg of blueberry concentrate or 300 mg of acerola cherry concentrate, that content should be there scoop to scoop or capsule to capsule. The produce we buy or even raise ourselves can vary widely in phytonutrient content.

Second, for the most part, the powders are convenient. If you always have a smoothie for breakfast, a scoop or two of the vegetable and fruit powder is a quick way to improve your diet.

The Issue with Powders

The phytonutrient content per scoop or capsule may change depending on when the vegetable or fruit was harvested—even in as little as a couple of hours. It doesn’t mean they won’t be there, only that the types and quantities of phytonutrients may vary slightly.

Another issue is finding a reliable, high-quality manufacturer. This may be a great time to listen to “The Characteristics of a Quality Manufacturer” in my audio on Supplementing Your Diet. If you don’t have a copy, the MP3 is only $4.95 and you be listening in a couple of minutes.

The Bottom Line

There’s room in a healthy diet to get your eight to ten servings of vegetables and fruits from food with an assist from vegetable and fruit powders if you need them. There are small issues with each approach, but using a complementary approach may help you achieve your nutritional goals while giving you the flexibility to meet your nutritional needs even with a demanding, unpredictable schedule. The lesson: Eat better. Some plants plus some powders can give you the best of both worlds, and that can help you get closer to the nutrients your body needs.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Side 1: Why Plants Are Better than Powders

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A month ago I addressed the increased interest in getting vegetables and fruits from powders; now let’s get into more detail.

First, eating vegetables and fruits automatically increases our fluid intake. The exact water content of different plants varies, but the average plant is about 90% water by weight. The water is somewhat purified by the root system; it’s not the equivalent of a water treatment system, but it’s something.

Second, the fiber content of the plants contributes to the 25 to 30 grams of fiber we need every day. The fiber can also add to the prebiotic needed to feed the probiotics. Depending on the way the plants are prepared, they may also contain probiotics.

Those are substances you don’t get in powders unless they’re specifically added or not removed. Are foods always better? No, but they’re the perfect delivery system providing we eat them every day.

But there are two sides to every issue. On Saturday, we’ll talk about how powders are better than foods.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

The Magic of Chicory

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Because this is my birthday week, I thought I would indulge myself and talk about some personal research I recently did. Today it’s all about chicory—it’s everywhere. The little purple flowers can be found alongside just about every road in Michigan. I’m pretty sure it’s probably that way across the U.S. where the climate is similar at this latitude. Those little lavender-purple flowers are chicory, officially known as Cichorium intybus, a member of the Aster family. This absolutely phenomenal lavender-flowered plant is one of those plants that are classified as weeds in some areas, but in others are cultivated for their nutritious parts.

Chicory as a Fiber Source

I first became aware of chicory when I found out the root is the source of one of my favorite types of fiber called inulin. The reason that I like that particular type of fiber so much is that it can act as a prebiotic and feed many of the bacteria of the microbiome. But first, it acts like any other type of soluble fiber: it absorbs fluid to help food move through the small intestine. Then when it gets to the large intestine, it can supply the thousands of microbes with food.

Chicory is not the only source of inulin, but it’s the greatest source. Here are some of the other major sources of inulin if you wanted to get it by eating plants; all of these amounts are per 100 grams of a serving; that works out to about 3.3 ounces:

  • Chicory root contains about 40 grams
  • Jerusalem artichoke has 16–20 grams
  • Garlic has 9–16 grams
  • Raw asparagus has 2–3 grams

It might be relatively easy to eat 3.3 ounces of artichokes or asparagus. But I’m not sure many people are going to want to be around you if you eat 3.3 ounces of raw garlic every day, although it could be a big assist in social distancing. Just a thought.

Chicory as Food

I was surprised to find out that almost the entire chicory plant can be eaten; it has been cultivated as food in Europe since the 1600s. Depending on the age of the plant, as well as the time within the growing season, the leaves of the plant can be considered a salad delicacy. I don’t usually stop and eat or even nibble when I’m out for a walk/run, but chicory is in the endive family and the flavor is supposed to be somewhat bitter and crunchy like endive. That’s if eaten raw. When cooked, the flavor mellows out quite a bit, as it does for dandelion greens, another relative. When used in foods, it appears that chicory is often eaten like celery. The leaves, the roots, and the leaf buds are boiled and added to foods. Chicory seems to get more intriguing as a potential food all the time.

Chicory has also been used as an additive to or a substitute for coffee. Evidently when dried and roasted it has a very distinctive flavor that enhances coffee. In fact, after World War II, England and Germany roasted chicory root as a substitute for coffee beans. While I’ve never tasted it, I know that there are several brands of American coffee that contain roasted chicory root. What I don’t know is how that might impact the ability to act as a fiber and prebiotic. Because you’re trying to extract flavor from the root plus roasting the root, there may not be any of the desired digestive qualities available.

Chicory as a Nutrient

Because it’s a plant, you know that it must have phytonutrients. I’ve talked about the benefits as it relates to the microbiome, but there may be other benefits from consuming the plant or extracts from the plant. For example, in some of my background research on this, it seems that some people apply a paste of chicory leaves on the skin for swelling and inflammation. In another trial on rodents, chicory was used in combination with a variety of other herbs to see if it would lower blood pressure. It did, but it’s still a long way from a very small study on rats to developing natural ways of dealing with blood pressure.

One thing is for sure: using the parts of the plant that we know are the most effective for the digestive system is probably a good idea. We know that adults should be getting 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day, but most people seem to be able to hit only between 12 and 13 grams. So if taking this type of fiber known as inulin sourced from chicory root or eating more artichokes and asparagus is possible, you’ll get a lot of benefit from this plant. Maybe this will inspire you to taste the leaves of the plant with the little purple flowers on the side of the road in your next salad.

That’s exactly what I did on a trip to the store before writing this Memo. I noticed some chicory growing on the side of the road in an area that had a little bit of parking. So I stopped my car, got out, picked several different sized leaves, and then ate them. The plant had blossoms so that may have made a difference in the flavor. It was extraordinarily bitter but left no aftertaste. It would be interesting to be able to get some chicory that was specifically designed to be used in salads to see if it would taste similar. I would say this: if you can drink an IPA, I think you could eat salad with chicory in it. That’s my experience with eating chicory leaves to date. I’ll stick with inulin from the root for now.

New Info and Some Time Off

There’s a new Basic Health Info posted on the Health Info page at drchet.com about the myths and facts of face masks as described in actual scientific research. If you’re tired of people throwing fantastic tales of masks’ effects at you, here’s where you can go to get the facts: Cloth Masks: What the Research Says

We’re taking next week off to catch up on some big chores around the house, maybe even relax an hour or two, so expect to hear from me again on August 4.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 (3) 7;17(1):142.

SFCA, Sodium Intake, and High Blood Pressure

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Researchers in the United Kingdom recruited people with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure for a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study on diet and blood pressure. The scientists put all 145 subjects on a low-sodium diet for six weeks. Half the subjects was given a placebo while the other half was given a slow-release sodium supplement. After six weeks, the subjects were crossed over to the other group for another six weeks. The objective was to see if sodium intake impacted the microbiome and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) production to reduce blood pressure.

In a perfect world, researchers would take stool samples under all conditions to test for changes in microbe content, but that approach is expensive and time-consuming. Instead they chose to monitor changes in SCFA because they’ve been associated with blood pressure.

Researchers found that while taking the placebo, subjects on the low-sodium diet saw all SCFA increase; 2-methylbutyrate, butyrate, hexanoate, isobutyrate, and valerate were significantly increased. The increases in SCFA were associated with reductions in blood pressure and arterial-wall stretchability.

What does it mean? We’ve known for decades that sodium plays a role in blood pressure. This study demonstrated that sodium reduction directly increased the production of SCFA, which then lowered blood pressure. What we don’t know is the specific beneficial microbes affected or exactly how sodium negatively impacts them. Research continues and I’m sure we’ll find that out eventually.

The Bottom Line

On the other hand, it may not be necessary to find out. Scientists like me always want to know the specific bacteria and the mechanism by how it works. We know that fluid retention is involved somewhere. But we already know that if we reduce sodium, we’ll positively impact our blood pressure. We also know that fiber is the essential food for these SCFA-producing bacteria in our microbiome. If we focus on a more fiber-rich diet as well as take a fiber supplement, we may be able to increase our odds of reducing blood pressure without medication. If we need the meds, we take them, but if we can do it by feeding our microbiome, that’s even better.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. Hypertension. 2020;76:73–79.
2. Benoit Chassaing, Andrew T. Gewirtz, in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract (Sixth Edition), 2018.

Health Benefits of SCFA

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Let’s continue our look at short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and what they do besides produce energy. Most of these are observational in nature; by that I mean when SCFA go up or down, effects are observed. What we don’t know at this point is why.

For example, when diabetic animals are given the SCFAs acetate and propionate, they maintain better glucose control. That means that adding SCFA to their diet can improve their ability to maintain blood sugar levels. Wait a second; is this the same acetate that’s found in vinegar? Yes. The problem is that the studies don’t provide consistent results.

The same is true for fat storage. When SCFA levels go up, fat storage appears to go down, but drinking vinegar doesn’t necessarily provide that benefit. Observational studies show that as SCFA levels made by the body go up, fat storage goes down. That can prevent weight gain, but we don’t know whether it causes weight loss. The same is true for cholesterol levels; SCFA are associated with lower cholesterol levels.

The problem is that we don’t know the precise mechanisms yet. In other words, what does making SCFA do to the metabolic systems in the body? To the genes? Or receptors for various functions? That’s what scientists are working on. Further, exactly what type of bacteria produce the right SCFA? There’s general agreement that Bifidobacteria produce acetate and propionate when fermenting fiber, but which Bifidobacterium? There are over 50 varieties. Maybe more than one—they may interact in sequence. We don’t know at this point.

What role do SCFA have in controlling blood pressure? Does sodium also have an impact on SCFA production? We’ll take a look at a recent study on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. Benoit Chassaing, Andrew T. Gewirtz, in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract (Sixth Edition), 2018.
2. Front Microbiol. 2016; 7: 925. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00925

Short-Chain Fatty Acids: DIY Nutrition

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Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are critical to your health and well-being, yet you may not really know where they come from or what they do. In my opinion, the most interesting thing about SCFA is that they’re not generally found in our diet; we make them ourselves! We do that when bacteria in the microbiome work to ferment digestible fiber.

By definition, SCFA contain less than six carbon molecules. The three you may have heard about are acetate, propionate, and butyrate. SCFA can provide us with up to 10% of our energy needs. They’re especially important to colonocytes, a type of endothelial cells of the large intestine that need energy to digest and absorb food that we use to produce the rest of the energy we need.

I’ll cover what else SCFA do on Thursday. In the meantime, one way to increase the production of SCFA is to get more fiber, whether from foods or supplements. It’s especially important after a course of antibiotics; research has shown that after the microbiome is upset by antibiotics, the production of SCFA can be impaired, which impacts many biological processes.

The monthly Insider Conference Call is tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. You can still participate by becoming an Insider by 8 p.m. tomorrow night. If you have questions about COVID-19 or any other health topic, this is your chance to get answers. I hope to talk with you then.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Benoit Chassaing, Andrew T. Gewirtz, in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract (Sixth Edition), 2018.

Does Fiber Improve Your Microbiome?

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Now let’s look at the results of increasing dietary fiber for people with diabetes. Researchers recruited over 50 type 2 diabetics (T2D) for a 12-week study. The control group was given standard recommendations for a healthy diabetic diet. All current medications were maintained and both groups received acarbose, a starch blocker. The experimental group was put on a diet of prepared high-fiber foods and a diet higher in vegetables and fruits. Stool samples were collected periodically to assess the impact of the diet on the microbiome.

While the variables were straightforward, the analytic techniques were extraordinarily complex. It’s easy to say you want to examine the microbiome, but that’s not simple to do with thousands of types of microbes to analyze. Several types of bacteria from different species responded to the increase in fiber: bacteria that produced short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). The SCFAs are important because they feed the cells in the gut that do all the work during digestion and absorption.

HbA1c levels decreased faster and in a higher percentage of subjects in the experimental group than the control group. The fiber group also lost more weight and their blood lipids improved more than controls.

This was a small study, limited by the complexity of analyzing the microbiome, but the improvement in T2D simply due to an increase in fiber from foods is important. One more thing: this was a Chinese study, so typical high fiber foods from China were used. Is that important? We’ll find out Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Science. 2018. 359:1151–1156.