How Fibre Helps Reduce Cholesterol

This is how dietary fibre helps lower blood cholesterol. So easy to demonstrate in this simple diagram. Bile acids are made in the liver from cholesterol and their main function is to emulsify fats so we can digest them more easily. Now, viscous fibre from fruit or vegetables or psyllium for example thickens the contents of the digestive tract which in turn carries more bile all the way through our digestive system which of course we discard via the ‘brown star’, if you know what I mean. So, in essence, the fibre helps us ‘dispose’ of more cholesterol as a component of the bile we poop out. This encourages our liver to draw in more cholesterol from our blood in order to produce the extra bile we need for digestion, hence, lowering blood cholesterol levels. Now, without this fibre, with a smaller, less hydrated mass of digested food, we tend not to reduce blood cholesterol so much because we reabsorb more of this bile near the ileocecum valve along with its cholesterol component.

How does this relate to different diet types? Well those who consume large amounts of viscous fibre through vegetables and grains might benefit from this cholesterol disposal but what about low carbers? Well, the relative lack of fibre is the only question mark I have remaining regarding my low carb diet. Now, even though there isn’t any evidence that a nutrient dense low carb diet is any less healthy because it contains less fibre than a well formulated vegetable heavy diet, I’m hedging my bet by eating leafy greens and some beans about 3 times a day and I include some psyllium husk in some foods I make. I’m happy with that and it seems to be working just fine. What do you think? Please comment below with your thoughts on this…