Fiber in Our Diet and Its Role in Health and Disease

Abstract

Lifestyle and dietary habits directly influence the health of an individual con straining to understand the role of different types of diet components. Recently, dietary fibers are being studied comprehensively to understand its role in preven tion of heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, cancer, etc. Dietary fibers provide nutri tion to the gut microbiota directly and to intestinal epithelial cells indirectly via its fermentation products mainly short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Dietary fiber consumption alters gut microbiota, and its fermentation product mainly short chain fatty acids modulates disease condition by maintaining energy homeosta sis and immune response. Dietary fibers reduce serum LDL cholesterol and blood pressure preventing heart diseases. Dietary fiber consumption also helps in reducing BMI via inducing satiety signals and provides bulking effect. SCFAs act on different tissues via GPCR receptors and modulate disease condition. In case of obesity and diabetes, SCFA improves insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis via gut-brain axis.