Eating too much fiber can cause digestive distress, gas, and intestinal blockages. The good news is that it’s hard to get too much fiber, especially since most people don’t get enough. Slowly ramping up your fiber intake can help you avoid some of the above problems. Not overdoing it will help you avoid the rest, as previously noted. Here Kris Gunnars, BSc, HealthLine.com, reflects on why fiber is good for you:

Fiber is one of the main reasons whole plant foods are good for you.

Growing evidence shows that adequate fiber intake may benefit your digestion and reduce your risk of chronic disease.

Many of these benefits are mediated by your gut microbiota — the millions of bacteria that live in your digestive system.

However, not all fiber is created equal. Each type has different health effects.

This article explains the evidence-based health benefits of fiber.

What is fiber?

Put simply, dietary fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate found in foods.

It’s split into two broad categories based on its water solubility:

1. Soluble fiber: Dissolves in water and can be metabolized by the “good” bacteria in the gut.
2. Insoluble fiber: Does not dissolve in water.

Perhaps a more helpful way to categorize fiber is fermentable versus non-fermentable, which refers to whether friendly gut bacteria can use it or not.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are many different types of fiber. Some of them have important health benefits, while others are mostly useless.

There is also a lot of overlap between soluble and insoluble fibers. Some insoluble fibers can be digested by the good bacteria in the intestine, and most foods contain both soluble and insoluble fibers.

Health authorities recommend that men and women eat 38 and 25 grams of fiber per day, respectively.

Fiber feeds “good” gut bacteria

The bacteria that live in the human body outnumber the body’s cells 10 to 1.

Bacteria live on the skin, in the mouth and in the nose, but the great majority live in the gut, primarily the large intestine (1Trusted Source).

About 500 different species of bacteria live in the intestine, totaling about 100 trillion cells. These gut bacteria are also known as the gut flora.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between you and some of the bacteria that live in your digestive system.

You provide food, shelter and a safe habitat for the bacteria. In return, they take care of some things that the human body cannot do on its own.

Of the many different kinds of bacteria, some are crucial for various aspects of your health, including weight, blood sugar control, immune function and even brain function (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6).

You may wonder what this has to do with fiber. Just like any other organism, bacteria need to eat to get energy to survive and function.

The problem is that most carbs, proteins and fats are absorbed into the bloodstream before they make it to the large intestine, leaving little for the gut flora.

This is where fiber comes in. Human cells don’t have the enzymes to digest fiber, so it reaches the large intestine relatively unchanged.

However, intestinal bacteria do have the enzymes to digest many of these fibers.

This is the most important reason that (some) dietary fibers are important for health. They feed the “good” bacteria in the intestine, functioning as prebiotics (7Trusted Source).

In this way, they promote the growth of “good” gut bacteria, which can have various positive effects on health (8Trusted Source).

The friendly bacteria produce nutrients for the body, including short-chain fatty acids like acetate, propionate and butyrate, of which butyrate appears to be the most important (9Trusted Source).

These short-chain fatty acids can feed the cells in the colon, leading to reduced gut inflammation and improvements in digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source, 12).

When the bacteria ferment the fiber, they also produce gases. This is the reason high-fiber diets can cause flatulence and stomach discomfort in some people. These side effects usually go away with time as your body adjusts.”

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