Life Hacks for Health

Someone dear told me that Gorillas spend the whole day chewing on plant matter. They get plenty of fiber. It appears from the literature that humans also need lots of fiber, and that the modern diet is lacking.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fiber-famished-gut-microbes-linked-to-poor-health1

Resistant starch helps to influence appetite, as your biome is involved in brain signaling. source. This includes fibers beta-glucan, inulin, and glucomannan. They produce short chain fatty acids SCFA's, the primary being acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Fiber helps with weight regulation2: “The observed changes in energy intake and body weight occur both when the fiber is from naturally high-fiber foods and when it is from a fiber supplement”. For now, I am going to go by the hypothesis that supplemental fiber has the same benefits, or at least has most of the benefits of constantly eating foods full of fiber. (update: 1 2 3)

I'm taking glucomannan, because of all the fiber types I know of, it takes the fewest pills to get a serving. Glucomannan “can absorb up to 50 times its weight in water, making it one of the most viscous dietary fibers known [6]. Therefore, glucomannan is taken in smaller doses than other types of fiber supplements.” source I've also tried taking inulin in gummy form, not because these gummies have the best ingredients, but because they are yummy and I like eating them.

Update: Inulin gives me gas. Apparently I'm not the only one 1 2. Inulin fiber molecular chains are shorter and get completely broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Glucomannan is harder for bacteria to break down, and I can take double or triple the recommended dose without bad effect.

I sprinkle a bit of psyllium husk fiber into my smoothies, but not too much as I find the flavor decreases the more fiber I add! I also like to add celery to my smoothies. Yes, I do try to eat more vegetables, and fermented foods, but I'm likely not going to dramatically change my diet anytime soon, so fiber supplements for me. I take the fiber with my food, especially with any simple carbs or high glycemic food.

Serving size is relative however. Is the one listed on the bottle relevant? A google search produces claims of healthy being a 10:1 or 5:1 ratio of carbohydrates to fiber. Another website claims that low glycemic foods have a 1:1 ratio. So if you have a 20oz milkshake, you are having about 100 grams of carbohydrates. That would mean 10 grams of fiber on the low side, or about 16 pills of glucomannan. Let's fudge that number a bit, considering glucomannan has a higher absorption ability than other fibers. It's still quite a few pills, more than I expected before doing this estimate. Still feasible. Studies on humans typically use 4 grams per day, and that has an effect by itself, but I wager taking more won't hurt, especially if you're having a milkshake.

Another important factor, is that having fiber as the first part of a meal is better. For example, having your salad before eating the main course. Take your fiber supplement before eating, rather than after. This is sort of a deduction from an experiment highlighted in the examine article: “the study showed that both blood sugar and insulin levels were lower after meals that started with protein and veggies before carbs, compared to eating carbs first”. I've also read elsewhere that fiber slows down stomach emptying. However, if you forget, taking fiber supplements after your meal is still worthwhile, better than not taking it at all. It takes roughly 2 hours for a meal to fully exit the stomach, so the fiber will mix with the remaining food in the stomach.

I wondered why fiber supplements recommend taking the soluble fiber, anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before a meal. Does it take that long to dissolve and be able to engulf the rest of the food? Why that long? From Billy Mitchell on Quora: “It increases the likelyhood that you’ll eat less by triggering an endocrine response from your intestinal tract promoting satiety, which takes time to happen. You wouldn’t get the response in time had you taken it right before a meal.” Based on the idea of slowing down stomach emptying, and reducing the insulin response on high glycemic foods by slowing their absorption, I would suggest at most 15 minutes before a meal. It may take a while to feel full, so slow down your eating and enjoy each bit of your food more, and the satiety will happen at the correct time.

I don't know if one type of supplemental fiber is better for the gut flora than another. Update:
1 In one dynamic, pectin, glucomannan, and inulin performed equally well (on mice).
2 In other dynamics, glucomannan and inulin (soluble fibers), performed better than cellulose (on mice)
3 Glucomannan produces less gas than other fibers, as it is less easily digestible by intestinal flora.
4 Glucomannan and inulin are both comparable in effectiveness of increasing beneficial bacteria (The kind that happens to help with depression! No citation, but I've looked this up previously)

The word on the internet is that fiber can affect absorption of certain minerals. I started to fear that it could affect absorption of other supplements as well. However, it appears it isn't the fiber itself, but the phytic acid (aka phytate, inositol polyposhpate) content 1 2 3 of some types of fiber, including cereal fiber. The phytic acid, in some types of fiber affects absorption of certain metallic cations such as calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium. However, phytic acid also has beneficial effects (see source). As far as I can tell, glucomannan does not include phytate 1 2.

The following opinion article from 2011 slants towards eating natural fiber: http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food/article/faux-fiber-versus-real-thing. It presents the idea that foods naturally high in fiber come with a variety of fiber types, not just one homogenous fiber type found in supplementation. However, this experiment, where monkeys were fed a “western diet”, actually improved in health metrics while supplementing with glucomannan fiber. I now feel safe eating whatever I want, with fiber pills handy. I do love eating healthy food, and even prefer it, but it's ok for me to not be strict about it.

Another study on mice I read a long time ago, is that mice that never ate any sugar or other high glycemic food, but were injected with a glucose solution GOT DENTAL CAVITIES. This means it may be possible to avoid cavities by avoiding high glycemic food, or by taking soluble fiber with high glycemic foods. I hypothesize the fiber would render sugary foods to be non-high-glycemic, and thus not cause cavities. Sugar in your mouth may still may be a factor, but to what degree I'm not sure: I have to look up that mouse study again.

The site nutritionfacts.org states that whole grains that need to be chewed are better than the same powdered whole grains, because some pieces make it through to the large intestine undigested, leaving a meal for beneficial bacteria.

Former website healingcrow.com writes that supplementing inulin is sufficiently untested, and could lead to bad outcomes:
https://www.scdiet.net/healingcrow/HealingCrow/www.healingcrow.com/ferfun/conspiracy/conspiracy.html
This is the company Natren's position, as mentioned in the healing crow article: https://www.natren.com/prebiotics.html

copied from here

Best overview article: https://authoritynutrition.com/fiber-can-help-you-lose-weight/

Viscosity rather than quantity of dietary fibre predicts cholesterol-lowering effect in healthy individuals
“ The degree of viscosity appears to be inversely related to glycemic response, with the more viscous dietary fibers producing greater effects. These fibers form viscous solutions when mixed with the gastrointestinal (GI)5 tract contents, slowing gastric emptying and thickening small intestinal contents. This may reduce contact between food and digestive enzymes and interfere with diffusion of nutrients to absorptive surfaces, thus slowing the rate at which glucose molecules become available for absorption at the small-intestinal brush border ” jn.nutrition.org

The following two, HPMC and Methylcellose, are not digested by bacteria in the gut, and therefore do not produce gas. I have been taking MC for about a decade. It works well. However, I am going to try some others, because I understand that you want fermentable fibers, to keep up the beneficial gut bacteria.

- HV-HPMC (hypromellose):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23146593
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3545536

- Methylcellulose A4M:
the nominal viscosity of METHOCEL A4M is 4000 cPs measured as a 2% aqueous solution at 20C

This one I have yet to try out and fully research:
- Triphala:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/4/529.full