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- Baobab
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Dietary fiber — there’s a lot more to good nutrition than just making sure you’re getting enough vitamins and minerals. Dietary fiber (also known as roughage) is an important component of healthy nutrition because by ensuring good gut health you also ensure you’re gaining the maximum nourishment from the food you eat. The health of your digestive system contributes to everything from your ability to absorb nutrients, the state of your blood sugar and cholesterol levels to the robustness of your immune system and whether “good” bacteria (the probiotic micro-organisms living in your gut) can flourish. It makes a lot of sense then to pay attention to whatever might increase your gut health. So exactly what health-promoting effects does dietary fiber have on your digestive tract?
What is Dietary Fiber?
First let’s look at what dietary fiber is. Very simply, dietary fiber is the part of plants we cannot completely digest – usually non-digestible carbohydrates, lignins, cellulose and non-starch polysaccharides such as pectin, amongst others.
There are two kinds of dietary fiber:- Soluble Fiber dissolves in water to form a viscous gel-like substance. This is why it’s so vital to drink plenty of water if you’re also eating fiber-rich foods. In the digestive tract, soluble fiber has the effect of slowing down the absorption of certain food components particularly sugars and fats. This is why fiber plays a role in balancing blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
- Insoluble Fiber is impossible to digest and passes through your system. While it doesn’t dissolve in water, it absorbs water and therefore plays a role in bulking up stool material and speeding up the transit time of food in the digestive tract thereby contributing to healthy elimination of wastes.
Of course you need both kinds of fiber but soluble fiber is the kind you want more of. Baobab powder provides up to 50% dietary fiber by weight, 75% of which is soluble fiber. This compares very well with oat bran (15% fiber of which about 50 % is soluble); flaxseeds (30 % fiber of which about 30 % is soluble) and at the high end, psyllium seed husks (80% fiber of which about 66% is soluble fiber). One of the highest levels of soluble dietary fiber Baobab powder contains is pectin, more commonly known as the substance used for thickening jams.
Why do we need Dietary Fiber?
Dietary fiber functions in a number of important ways all of which contribute significantly to overall digestive health:
- As already mentioned, insoluble fiber (consumed with plenty of water) can help to prevent constipation by making stools bulky and soft, moving stool material through the gastrointestinal tract
- Fiber (pectin) has the effect of slowing glucose absorption in the digestive tract thereby helping to control blood sugar levels especially in diabetics.
- Consumption of pectin has also been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels.
- Once undigested fiber passes through the small intestine, it arrives in the large intestine where it acts as fuel to friendly intestinal flora (probiotics). In this way fiber acts as a prebiotic, helping probiotics to flourish.
- The gastrointestinal system contains more than half the body’s immune system. Prebiotics nourish probiotics, with some studies suggesting that this might have such farreaching effects as improving the overall immune response and preventing allergy development.
- Because food with fiber takes longer to leave the stomach, consuming fiber-rich foods has the additional effect of making one feel satisfied for longer so one eats less; in this way fiber can be said to assist with weight control.
- Some studies have indicated that consuming sufficient fiber of the right kind has heart-health benefits such as reducing blood pressure and inflammatory conditions.
- The health benefits of prebiotic foods
There’s good evidence that the dietary fiber in Baobab powder has a prebiotic effect. Essentially, the benefits of prebiotics are the extent to which they support probiotics. Nutritionist Katherine Tudsbury, (http://www.nutritionist. co.za/ag3nt/system/expert_view_one.php?sid=1008) says “Probiotics are the bacteria which make up the natural flora of our gastro-intestinal system. These trillions of “good” bacteria benefit the body by keeping the growth of the ‘harmful’ bacteria regulated, synthesizing vitamin K, producing certain hormones and promoting digestion, absorption and elimination. Animal studies have shown that ‘healthy’ bacteria can also reduce anxiety and depression. New research is discovering that the trillions of bacteria in the human GI tract communicate with the enteric nervous system (the extensive lining of nerve cells in our GI tract that communicate with the brain) and alter brain function. Other human research has shown that inflammation markers and obesity are linked to the state of our gut flora. The studies show that the lower the probiotic diversity of the gut, the higher the incidence of obesity, insulin resistance and other inflammatory conditions.” It makes sense therefore that we maintain a nourishing environment for probiotics with prebiotics and dietary fiber such as baobab fruit powder can help with this. “the dietary fiber in baobab fruit powder has prebiotic effects which support the healthy flourishing of probiotic cultures in the digestive tract”
Which conditions benefit from Dietary Fiber?
Some common disorders associated with lack of fiber in the diet are:
- Constipation
- Hemorrhoids
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Diverticular disease
- Diabetes
- Inflammatory conditions
As with all information regarding nutrition, it’s sensible to take a holistic approach rather than following a narrowly rigid protocol. No one aspect of nutrition exists in isolation and exactly how nutrition and our digestive processes works isn’t yet completely understood by medical science. What we do know is that nutrition works synergistically taking many different factors into account. For instance, although fruit has much to recommend it in terms of its vitamin and fiber content, eating too much fruit can overload your system with sugars so it’s best to balance fruit consumed by eating fiber-rich vegetables as well. Fortunately, baobab, although a fruit, is rich in fiber and many other significant nutrients but low in sugar
- Why Our Baobab Powder?
The baobab fruit is one of the few fruits to dry out completely while still on the tree. The pods are only harvested when they fall to the ground (Our Baobab pods are never taken directly off the tree) and they only fall when they are completely dried out. This means that the powder requires minimal handling and processing. All we do is separate the powder from the seeds (which we press to get Baobab oil) and then sieve it to give it the wonderfully fine, silky textured powder which mixes easily into foods and drinks that we have become known for. Baobab powder has been safely consumed for thousands of years and Baobab fruit powder received its GRAS certification (Generally Recognized As Safe) from the FDA in 2008. Baobab powder has a shelf life of two years.
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- How to enjoy Baobab Powder
Mix a teaspoon or two into your breakfast cereal, yogurt or porridge or add a tablespoon to your favorite fruit smoothie or green drink.
Because it’s a natural food, there’s no cut and dried formula for how much Baobab powder to consume a day. However, to enjoy the full benefits of baobab powder and for optimum results, as a general rule we recommend taking around two tablespoons a day. Two tablespoons of baobab powder (12g) will give you approximately 6g of dietary fiber.
“Two tablespoons of Baobab powder (12g) will give you approximately 6g of dietary fiber”
Two Tablespoons (12 g) will give you about:
Vitamin C 24 mg (30% RDA) Calcium 48 mg (6% RDA) Magnesium 17.4 mg (5% RDA) Potassium 264 mg (13% RDA) Dietary Fiber 6 g (20% RDA) Antioxidant value (ORAC) 330 µmol TE/g
- How much Dietary Fibre do we need?
The general recommended amount of fiber for adults is between 25-35g per day. Different ages have different requirements as do men and women with men generally requiring slightly more than women. See the table below:
RDA
Age Female Male Children 1 – 2 yrs 19g 19g Children 4 – 8 yrs 25g 25g Children 9 – 13 yrs 26g 31g Teens 14 – 18 yrs 26g 38g Adult 19 - 49 25g 38g Adult 50+ yrs 21g 30g
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