Fiber plays important roles in your food, in your gut and for the bacteria in your gut.
What does fiber do in your food?
Fiber play important roles in defining the look and feel of your food.
Firstly they play some of the most important roles in defining why fruits and vegetables look and feel the way they do. For more information about where fiber comes from, see our article on What are High in Fiber Foods?
They also play important roles in manufactured foods. For example, pectins make jellies feel jelly-like. And cellulose is used to add a creamy texture to yoghurts.
What does fiber do in your gut?
Fiber plays controls how food passes through your gut from you stomach. Generally speaking, the more fiber that is in your food the slower the food will pass through your intestines and the slower the nutrients from your food will be absorbed. Generally, slower is better.
What does fiber do to the bacteria in your gut?
One of the big things that is happening in the world of science and health is the new science of the gut microbiome. That is, all the bacteria that live in your gut, much of which has a beneficial effect on your body.
Fiber is hugely important as a food source for the bacteria in your gut. Your body’s enzymes can’t digest fiber but the bacteria can – and they love it!