New research shows there are more reasons than ever to eat vegetables
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When it comes to our diets, the list of things touted as the key to better health is ever-changing: cutting out carbs, eating like a caveman, and consuming large amounts of purported superfoods like turmeric. I’m doing it. While most don’t live up to the hype, there is one excess nutrient that bucks this trend.
It’s widely known that dietary fiber is good for you, but few people realize just how far-reaching its health benefits are. But it’s worth knowing, given that common diets, especially in high-income countries, make it easy to overlook it.
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Many of us have experienced firsthand the effects that dietary fiber has on our bodies. A lack of this ingredient, also known as a “natural laxative,” can cause constipation. However, dietary fiber is important for more than just defecation. Diets high in this component are associated with a reduced risk of many health conditions, including cancer and heart disease. This is because fiber is not just cardboard-like padding, it’s also food for the microbes in your gut. This means that the microbiome influences the health of your immune system, brain, and other areas through the chemicals it produces, and its effects are felt throughout your body.
“Dietary fiber is the part of our diet that we cannot digest; most comes from the cell walls of plants,” says Petra Ruiz from the University of Aberdeen…
