Most people need to be consuming more dietary fiber, and many will require a supplement to reach their daily goal. What should you look for in a fiber supplement? Does your fiber supplement have excess sugar, taste bad, or cause excessive gas and bloating?
Dietary fiber is linked to almost all aspects of diabetes and its complications. Increasing dietary fiber intake through food and sugar-free fiber supplements has been shown to positively impact the risk factors and complications associated with diabetes including heart disease, obesity, brain health and immune health.
Antibiotic use, especially in childhood, has been linked to obesity later in life. Overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics causes disruptions in the intestinal microbiome that influences metabolism. You can protect, maintain and restore probiotic bacteria with prebiotic fiber when using antibiotics.
Your brain knows you have eaten enough when it receives specific signals to indicate satiety, or fullness. The more satiety signals that get triggered, the more full we feel. Fiber is a low-calorie nutrient that can trigger feelings of fullness through several mechanisms helping you control how much you eat.
What’s the difference between prebiotics and probiotics and why would you choose one over the other? Are some prebiotic or probiotic foods and supplements better than others? Why is dietary fiber so important for overall health? How do probiotics impact inflammation and brain health?
Brain health and gut health are closely related. Your gut has it’s own separate nervous system, often called the “second brain” or formally, the enteric nervous system. The health of the enteric nervous system tells us a lot about the health of the brain in your head.