Higher Fiber, Lower Cholesterol

By: Brenda Watson



The fiber component of food, known as “dietary fiber,” is a type of complex carbohydrate found only in plants, primarily in their cell walls. Fiber is not technically a nutrient since we humans cannot digest it. While it contains no nutrients, the food in which fiber is found is loaded with them. For our purposes we want to concentrate on the health-associated benefits of having a high-fiber diet. A high-fiber diet, as we recommend it, includes 35 grams of fiber daily for women and up to 45 grams per day for men. This amount is hard to obtain through regular dietary consumption (the average American gets just 15-20 grams), so supplementation is usually necessary.

The benefits of fiber are well-documented, especially when it comes to heart disease and notably the effect fiber has on lowering cholesterol. Cholesterol is both produced and processed for elimination in the liver. The liver produces approximately 85% of your body’s total cholesterol. Cholesterol, which is a fatty substance, cannot be eliminated by the body in its fat-soluble (dissolves in fat) state. After it has served its purpose, it is sent back to the liver to be converted into a form that can be eliminated by the body.

The liver uses a complex chemical process to change the cholesterol from a fat-soluble to a water-soluble substance. Once this occurs, the water-soluble cholesterol is put into bile, which is also produced by the liver. This bile is then sent to the gallbladder for storage and later use. Part of the function of bile is to help in the digestion (emulsification) of fats. Bile is also a vehicle to move toxins out of the body. The components of bile are bile salts and toxins (used up cholesterol, histamine, hormones, dead red blood cells etc.)

When fat is eaten, the gallbladder is stimulated to release small amounts of bile into the digestive tract. This bile, along with all of its components, including cholesterol, are bound up in fiber and carried out of the body in a bowel movement. In a person who eats insufficient fiber, the toxins have nothing to bind to and end up being reabsorbed through the blood vessels that line the colon in the water re-absorption process. These toxins end up in the liver once again and stagnate and overburden the liver. In this manner, insufficient dietary fiber can lead to a blood test that reflects not only today’s cholesterol in the blood, but also yesterday’s and cholesterol from the days before. A high-fiber diet will have the effect of absorbing the water-soluble cholesterol, thus reducing blood cholesterol levels.

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