Saturday, January 16th, 2010
So whats the difference between dietary and soluble fiber? I have been running lately and stopped eating bad food and try to eat my fiber usually like 30-36 . I am not sure if that’s how much i should be eating. Like do dietary fiber and soluble fiber add up to the how much fiber u eat a day? So if i am on a diet is soluble or insoluble better for me?
January 16th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
It is recommended that you eat at least 30g of fibre per day (but people eating less than that should increase it slowly).
Dietary fibre is all the fibre that you eat (eg soluble fibre PLUS insoluble fibre)
Insoluble fibre does not dissolve in water it’s main role is to provide bulk in the intestine (helping to prevent constipation)
Soluble fibre does dissolve in water and forms a gel in the intestine. This also helps to prevent constipation but also can help to decrease cholesterol (cholesterol binds to the gel and isn’t absorbed into the blood). Insoluble fibre is found in a large amounts in most of fruit and vegies.
January 16th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Dietary fiber is a catchall phrase involving two kinds of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Dietary just means you eat it, that’s all. You need both kinds to stay running properly, to keep the house clean so to speak. Soluble fiber absorbs water, and turns to sort of a gel goo in the intestines. That helps things slide down the line. Insoluble fiber is stuff you can’t really digest or do anything with, and provides bulk to hold everything together while it moves down the line to the exit. To help you see the difference, think back to the last bowl of oatmeal you ate. If you stirred it up, you noticed some thick gooey strings sort of gluing things together. That’s the soluble fiber part. Then there is the husk part, made of cellulose, which is why it sticks to your ribs so long. You can’t digest it really, and that’s insoluble fiber. Pectin in fruits like apples and oranges makes good jelly because it’s soluble fiber. The inside of your beans is soluble as well. However, that skin is insoluble fiber. If you eat the number of recommended servings of whole grains, fruit and veg each day, you should get enough of the combination of the two to keep you in good running shape. If you have problems, then the usual recommendation is to add them. Failing that, there are drinkable fiber mixes that will provide it, although they tend to be the soluble type fiber. You should be aiming for 20-35 grams of fiber per day, and if you really want to be that exact, they recommend a 3:1 ratio of insoluble to soluble fiber. However, both types sort of overlap function, so what really counts is the total of both kinds, just as plain old fiber, without worrying too much about which specific kind it was.