Start a Business in Soluble Fiber

Start a Business in Soluble Fiber

What is soluble fiber?

Soluble fiber is found in plant foods, like legumes, fruits and vegetables. It helps you to eat less because it slows down the digestion of your food. This helps you to feel fuller for longer periods of time.Soluble fibre also slows down the rate that your body absorbs blood sugar. This helps keep your blood sugar levels more stable for longer periods of time. This is why fruit is generally good for people with diabetes. However, certain fruits are also high in sugar and acids, which can interact negatively with people who have diabetes.  This is why diabetics should be careful about what types of fruit they consume on a regular basis.

Soluble fiber is a plant food component that dissolves in water forming a viscous material.

• Makes you eat less – the soluble fibre gel slows down the passage of food through the stomach, making us feeling full for a longer time after a meal.

• Lowers the risk of heart attacks or strokes – the principal reason for those diseases is having a high cholesterol level. The cholesterol in excess accumulates on the inner walls of blood vessels, causing them to gradually narrow. The narrowing develops into a full blockage in the form of a heart attack or stroke. Soluble fibre in the diet reduces cholesterol levels in the blood, decreasing this risk.

• Controls blood sugar level – soluble fibre also slows down the absorption of glucose into the blood stream, stabilizing blood sugar levels. This reduces insulin necessities, being especially helpful for people suffering from diabetes. These people, however, should carefully monitor their fruit intake, as fruits are not only rich in fibre, but also in sugars.
• Soluble fiber dissolves and thickens in water. Soluble fiber is probably best known for its cholesterol lowering effect, when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• Soluble fiber is made up of sticky substances like gums and pectin, which form a gel-like substance in the presence of liquid. The gel binds with cholesterol and bile acids in the small intestine and eliminates them from the body. Bile acids are made from the cholesterol that is stored in our blood, so more of your body’s cholesterol is used up in replenishing the bile acids.
  
• Soluble fiber also helps to stabilize blood sugar and control diabetes, by slowing the absorption of carbohydrates and reducing the rise of blood sugar after a meal.
  
• Soluble fiber also provides a feeling of fullness, so it can potentially help with weight loss. The best sources of soluble fiber are oats, especially oat bran, barley, dried beans, soybeans, sweet potato and white potato, broccoli, asparagus, carrot, apple, pear, citrus fruits, berries, banana, almonds, psyllium and flax seeds. 

What are soluble fiber foods?

Soluble fibre foods are essential for a healthy diet, being a great and natural way to lower the levels of LDL cholesterol. Soluble fibre foods are required to keep the digestive system healthy. It can also help moving food at a slower speed through the stomach, making you feel fuller longer and helping you maintain or reach an ideal weight with less effort.

Soluble fiber foods examples

Whole Grains

The highest of the soluble fiber foods in the grain category is oat. Ingesting half a cup of cooked oat bran or oatmeal for your breakfast is the best way to get that amount of soluble fibre foods you need, especially if you can mix it with some fruit also high in soluble fibre. Barley is another kind of grain with good levels of soluble fibre that can also be cooked as a cereal.

Fruits

Prunes, pears and citrus fruit (like oranges or grapes) are the highest soluble fibre foods in the fruit category. Other fruits with nice levels of soluble fibre include nectarines, peaches, plums, apples, bananas and blackberries. It’s a good thing that fruit can be eaten in many ways. You can mix some of your favorite fruits together to create an easy way to add to your daily soluble fibre intake. You can also put them into a low-fat yogurt (and oat-packed granola) to prepare a healthy meal, great for soluble fibre intake. Finally, maybe taking along fruit to eat when hungry for a snack may be just the fast food Mother Nature intended for us.

Legumes, Seeds and Nuts

Legumes are, without a doubt, the best soluble fibre foods. Half a cup of cooked legumes can provide as much of it as three pieces of fruit. While lima and kidney beans are at the top, pinto, navy, black and northern beans come right after at a close second.
Lentils, whether yellow, green. or orange, have almost the same soluble fibre as one piece of fruit or cup of oats, but far more overall fibre. The same happens with chick peas and black eyed peas.
Eating just 1 tablespoon of ground psyllium seeds can get you more fibre than any legume, grain, fruit or vegetable available. This is often found in products such as Metamucil.

Vegetables

While there are not many vegetables with high levels of soluble fibre, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and carrots are the soluble fibre foods in the veggie category that are good both for your heart and your digestive system.

 How Soluble Fiber Works

Soluble fibre is important because it helps slow down digestion. Soluble fibre absorbs water and other liquids in your system and turns it into a gel. This gel is what helps you feel fuller for longer than usual.

Good sources of soluble fibre are:

• legumes (peas, kidney beans, lentils)
• oatmeal and oat bran
• brown rice, barley
• pectin-rich fruits, like citrus fruits, apples and pears
• carrots
• broccoli

Key Benefits

Health Benefits of a High-Fiber Diet

• Helps prevent constipation.
• Lowers your risk of digestive conditions.
• Helps lower blood cholesterol levels.
• Helps control blood sugar levels.

Reference:

DEEPAK MUDGIL

MUDGIL D., Soluble fibre and cookie quality, Agro Food Industries  Vol. 23(3) May/June 2012, 15-17

D. Mudgil, J Food Sci Technol., DOI 10.1007/s13197-011-0522-x (2011).