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Brought to you by Deepak Chopra, MD, Alexander Tsiaras, and TheVisualMD.com
"Oatmeal is good for you heart." You hear that a lot, and not just from oatmeal companies. Many cardiologists and other health professionals recommend starting the day with a bowl of oats. There's a good reason: Oatmeal is one of many foods that contains soluble fiber, a substance that can help your heart by reducing the amount of LDL cholesterol (also know as "bad" cholesterol) in your blood (1). Research shows that a moderate increase in the amount of soluble fiber in a person's diet is likely to lower his or her risk of developing heart disease. It can also slow the progression of heart disease once it has begun. That's not all: Soluble fiber can help lower the risk of developing diabetes. And the benefits of a diet rich in soluble fiber apply to children as well as adults. A 2009 study showed that soluble fiber helps reduce a child's risk for future chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes by helping to maintain normal blood sugar and blood pressure levels (2).
A Sponge for Cholesterol
What exactly is soluble fiber, and how does it work its magic? Fiber is the part of a plant food that your body cannot digest. It travels intact through your stomach, intestines and colon and exits from your body. There are two kinds of fiber, and both are good for you. Insoluble fiber, which does not dissolve in water, adds bulk to the material moving through your digestive system and is good at relieving constipation. It's found in whole wheat, nuts and many vegetables. Soluble fiber, as the name implies, dissolves in water, forming a gel-like substance. In addition to oats, soluble fiber can be found in beans, barley, flaxseed and certain vegetables and fruits.
Scientists aren't sure exactly how soluble fiber reduces the LDL or "bad" cholesterol in your blood, but they suspect it works like this: Soluble fiber acts like a cholesterol "sponge" by soaking up cholesterol-laden bile salts in the small intestine and eliminating these salts along with waste. That not only removes harmful cholesterol from your body, it also keeps bile acids from being "recycled" back to the liver. As a result, the liver must produce new bile acids, and to do that, it pulls LDL cholesterol out of the bloodstream (1). That reduces "bad" cholesterol levels even further, which is good news for your heart: If there's less bad cholesterol floating around in your bloodstream, it means there's less that can collect on the walls of the arteries, where it increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Other Health Benefits
The benefit of soluble fiber doesn't stop with cholesterol reduction. Soluble fiber can also lower triglycerides -- fats in the blood that contribute to heart disease. According to a 2010 study, it may also help reduce blood pressure and that's good for your heart health (3, 4). Soluble fiber can also benefit people at risk for diabetes by regulating blood sugar. It slows down the body's absorption of sugar, reducing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and helping to control existing cases of diabetes (4, 5). If that's not impressive enough, emerging research shows that certain forms of soluble fiber may enhance the body's immune function (2).
Foods With Fiber
Does this make you want to eat more soluble fiber? It should. And if you're like many Americans, you probably need to boost your intake of both kinds of fiber, soluble and insoluble. On average, children and adults in the U.S. consume less than half of the recommended amount of fiber. The USDA suggests that adult women get about 28 grams of total dietary fiber a day and adult men consume 36 grams a day. Children one year and older should consume 14 grams for every 1,000 calories in their diet (2).
At least 5 to 10 grams of your total daily fiber intake should consist of soluble fiber if you want to reap its cholesterol-lowering benefits, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in its guidelines for a heart-healthy diet (6). That translates into about 1 ½ cups of cooked oatmeal (6 g of soluble fiber) plus a serving of fruit, such as apples or bananas (4 grams of soluble fiber). If you're not a fan of oatmeal, there are lots of other tasty ways to get soluble fiber into your diet. Pears, citrus fruits and legumes such as kidney beans, peas, carrots, barley and psyllium (seed husks) are all good sources (4, 5). Try to avoid processed foods like pulp-free juice and canned fruits and vegetables and substitute fresh high-fiber ones instead. While packaged fiber supplements are an option, it's best to get your fiber fix from food sources, since you get the additional benefits of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Whether you get your soluble fiber by starting the day with oat-based cereal, or munching on apples, beans or barley as the day progresses, your body will thank you from the bottom of its heart.
Learn more about the benefits of fiber:
TheVisualMD.com: Fiber helps lower cholesterol
References
1. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2. Nutritional Reviews
3. American Heart Association
4. Mayo Clinic
5. TheVisualMD.com
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Follow Deepak Chopra on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DeepakChopra
Mark Hyman, MD: The Super Fiber That Controls Your Appetite and Blood Sugar
Dietary Fiber: Insoluble and Soluble Fiber
Soluble vs. insoluble fiber: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
An apple a day? Study shows soluble fiber boosts immune system
The problem with eating whole grains and legumes is that the amount of digestible carbohydrate outweighs any benefits from the fiber. And most American grain sources are processed, not really "whole grain."
Oh ! because cholestyramine and zetia didn't lower heart attack rate or cardiac death in first year on them !
So.... either oatmeal works by another factor that is not well worked out (and what are your views on the insulin clamp data with high fiber meals ?...har har, yeah, we know you aren't going to know this), or, perhaps, you don't really know the science.
Diabetes Obes Metab. 2010 Nov;12(11):958-66. doi: 10.1111/j.1463-1326.2010.01261.x
(among many others)
Ken Leebow
http://www.HighSatiety.net
So sprinkle your bran, and eat your flax seed. You'll be sorely disappointed with the results. Mostly what it will do is give you a few more trips to the bathroom.
Go ahead, find a reliable source and look it up.
Fiber figures strongly in WebMD's "Eating for a Long Life: WebMD’s 13 Tips", which you can read here: http://wp.me/pA04z-Fn
But even more to the point, is a video presentation by one of my favorite, way-righteous medical experts, Dr. Hyman, who discusses the importance of fiber in "Fiber, Live Longer, Healthier too!", shown here: http://wp.me/pA04z-Ej (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)
Although this may be "TMI," I am never constipated. When I consumed a low-fat, high-grain diet, I had terrible GI problems.
Peace
I found the best tolerated supplement was glucomannan - a soluble fiber from the root of the konjac plant. In clinical tests it has been found to not only help lower LDL cholesterol levels, but also speed the transit time of food through the intestines and lead to significant weight loss in obese people.
Yoga poses are also great at stretching the abdominal region - try the Free wind posture, the Wheel, the Seated forward bend, the Child's pose, the Plough, and the Triangle pose for relief from constipation.
Namaste!
Becca Chopra, author of The Chakra Diaries
www.TheChakras.org
Strange, eh? Still, no argument that fiber's a good thing overall.
Fiber slows down the blood glucose uptake of the so-called "fast" carbs that make up too large a portion of the modern American diet. Anyone obese may be close to becoming diabetic and food's effect on insulin, therefore, is of paramount importance. By slowing blood sugar spikes, fiber is beneficial to moderating insulin levels.
A healthy digestion system is another important beneficiary of fiber. Constipation is rare for those eating fiber rich food, as long as they also get enough libation -- water's best -- in order to move the fiber through the system.
The beauty is, if you're absolutely dead set against changing anything in your diet, you can still benefit from fiber simply by sprinkling it on various foods, or mixing it into drinks. You can use psyllium husk powder, or take fiber capsule, or chia seeds, or flax seed powder (and also benefit by omega 3 fatty acids).
Since Dr. Chopra's article is about cholesterol, if you're interested in this topic, check out "12 Myths About Cholesterol" http://wp.me/pA04z-Dp
Reducing carbohydrate intake is a good idea. If cholesterol levels have any meaning at all (and that is debatable), a high-fat, low carb diet will result in higher HDL levels (a good thing) remarkably lower triglycerides (the best thing), and a shift of LDL particles from small dense (bad) to light and fluffy (good).
A cheap way of obtaining flax powder is to by flax seeds (golden are better than brown) and use your coffee grinder to grind them into powder. This way, they're always fresh.
I played college soccer and continue to play and regularly run 5 and10k races at almost 50. I ride my bike to work everyday round trip about 15miles. I eat as much fruit as I want. I regularly eat at least 8-10 pieces of fruit/day. I consume beans and other carbs daily and eat as much as I want. I don't eat much grain except my morning oatmeal some quinoa and maybe some whole wheat pita with hummus daily I do load up on whole wheat pasta and fruit for all pregame meals or races. I eat very little animal products usually only fish 1/week and maybe 2-3 eggs. No other dairy products except some hard cheese on salads.
It, umm, turns to cement in my lower digestive track. And that is borderline TMI.
I DO eat a high fiber cereal. I even add flax.