Fiber is essential for a healthy diet.
Kirkland Signature Fiber Capsules provide all the healthy benefits of fiber in a convenient capsule form.
Kirkland Signature Fiber Capsules are easy to take with you when you’re on the go!
Dietary fiber is probably best known for its ability to prevent or relieve constipation. Fiber supplements and foods containing fiber can provide other health benefits as well, such as helping to maintain a healthy weight and lowering your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
What is dietary fiber?
Dietary fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, includes the parts of plant foods your body can't digest or absorb. Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates, which your body breaks down and absorbs, fiber isn't digested by your body. Instead, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine, and colon and out of your body.
Fiber is either classified as soluble, which dissolves in water or insoluble, which doesn't dissolve.
Most plant-based foods, such as beans and oatmeal, contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. However, the amount of each type varies in different plant foods. To receive the greatest health benefit, eat a wide variety of high-fiber foods, and take a fiber supplement, such as Kirkland Fiber Capsules.
A high-fiber diet has many benefits, which include:
Another benefit attributed to dietary fiber is the prevention of colorectal cancer. However, the evidence that fiber reduces colorectal cancer is mixed. Another way to get more fiber is to eat foods with fiber added. The added fiber usually is labeled as "inulin" or "chicory root." Some people complain of gassiness after eating foods with added fiber.
Some people may need a fiber supplement if dietary changes aren't sufficient or if they have certain medical conditions, such as constipation, diarrhea, or irritable bowel syndrome. Check with your doctor before taking fiber supplements if constipation occurs or persists as these can be signs of an underlying condition.
Refined or processed foods such as canned fruits and vegetables, pulp-free juices, white bread and pasta, and non-whole-grain cereals — are lower in fiber. The grain-refining process removes the outer coating (bran) from the grain, which lowers its fiber content. Enriched foods have some of the B vitamins and iron added back in after processing, but not the fiber.
While fiber supplements may not provide the variety of fibers, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that some foods do, taking a fiber supplement helps ensure you are getting the recommended daily fiber intake.