Fiber – Do we REALLY need it?

Seriously, what is the deal with fiber.

Is it really needed? (The answer. Not really.)

So before you start choking down fiber pills like a constipated old man, consider this.

Almost every single ‘health expert‘ will tell you that eating tons of fiber will help make you ‘fit as a fiddle’ (and quite fond of the bathroom too), its “Part of a healthy and balanced diet” and all that happy horse-crap. What they’ll never tell you is the “Why and How” of fiber and the human digestive system.

Now, I do enjoy the small amount of fiber I get – but only when it comes in vegetables and berries – since it drops the effective carbohydrate count (ECC) down (i.e. doesn’t cause a rise in insulin), giving me the best carb “bang for my buck” on those foods (not to mention the fact that its INHERENT in those foods).

Let’s have a little class, shall we.

What the hell IS fiber anyways?

To put it simply and easily, fiber is a part of your food that (at least on a cellular level) cannot be properly digested by us (due to the fact that we are not herbivores). In other words, it “goes out exactly like it came in”. It is a nutritionally inert substance to us.

What DOES fiber do to us then?

Hmmm, How can I put this discretely. Fiber makes your large intestine “empty” themselves quicker than they normally would. Which sounds like a good thing, right? Maybe not so much. Remember how I said that fiber doesn’t really get broken down or changed on its way through the body? Well, in addition to that its rather harsh on the gastrointestinal tract (you ever hear it called “roughage”? That’s why). It basically scrapes its way along down the line and in doing so – the cell membranes lining the tract get damaged, rupture, and produce an excess amount of mucous – they do this not only in order to try and protect themselves against further damage, but to also protect the inside of the body against foreign substances (they are the last line of defense to keeping possibly harmful things out of INSIDE our bodies where they can be lethal – “inside our bodies” in this case meaning breaking through the digestive tract to be absorbed internally).

In an old post on the subject Dr. Michael R. Eades has a nice quote summing up the process.

“So, we have a situation where a product [fiber] causes damage to the cells lining a tube, causing them to produce a lot of mucus in an attempt to protect themselves. In the process many of these cells die and are replaced by new cells. And this is perceived as a good thing.

My question is: is it really a good thing?“

This excessive amount of mucous and cell damage provides a lot of lubrication, causing things to move faster than they would naturally – hence the extra bathroom visits and increased bathroom “bulk” (remember it goes through unchanged and adds considerable “filler” to the final “product”). We equate that as healthy behavior because as a culture we are obsessed with bowel movements. People assume that if they don’t “go” at least once a day they must be sick – which is ridiculous.

Bowel movements make for a crappy (no pun intended) yardstick of human health. That type of thinking goes in the same category as using leeches to suck out all your “bad blood” if you have a cold. Its amazing how many medical assumptions that still exist today are based upon old inductive reasoning. No study has ever found fiber (or leeches) to have any improvement on human health.

Eating extra fiber JUST to ensure that you stay “regular” (which, by “common knowledge” then must mean that you’re “healthy”), is just ridiculous. Its like cheating on an IQ test – you’ll score high marks, but you’re still no smarter than before.

Bottom Line: If you enjoy going to the bathroom THAT much, go ahead and scrape yourself out with extra fiber supplements. Just know that you’re body doesn’t NEED it (and you probably killing lots of innocent cells in the process – which might not be a good thing at all). The rest of us non-fiber heads will still be doing just fine. When you eat lots of high-quality meats and other useful foods (such as we all do on a low-carb diet), the body doesn’t create anywhere near as much “waste material”. Therefore there isn’t much of a REASON for the body to excrete it often. Let your digestive system work like it was meant to.

I think that we can safely add Fiber to the mental list of “things that common knowledge is wrong about”, right along with saturated fat (good!) and complex carbohydrates (bad!).

Fiber = Useless.

(Picture courtesy of Jpchan’s Flickr Stream)

Related posts:

1. Top Misconceptions about Low-Carb Diets: Kidneys