Fiber Doesn't Fix Constipation

Fiber doesn't fix constipation, though many people think that it always does! Having the belief that fiber always fixes constipation can be disappointing for people who have kept trying this with no result

Let’s assume for a second that you go to your doctor because you are just too mortified to tell anybody else of your constipation problem. You tell your doctor that you are suffering from constipation, and in reply, your doctor probably will recommend that you do one of the most common things to fight your constipation: Add more fiber to your diet. Your doctor will likely give you this advice since he has done this a million times before and since it is largely believed to work for people in general.

So you follow your doctor’s advice because you have been taught the doctor knows everything and what’s best for you since he’s the professional. So you go home, start eating more fiber…and then you wait for results to occur in your constipation situation. After several days of taking more fiber into your diet, you begin to wonder why you are not seeing any results! You know that you gave the increased amount of fiber more than enough time to work in your body, so that you should be expecting easier bowel movements by this time. However, to your shock and dismay, your stool is still as tough as ever, and your constipation situation does not appear to be getting better, especially not with more fiber!

Thus, fiber doesn't fix constipation, and any belief that it always does is really just a…myth! This is a myth because while it works for some people, it actually does not work for other people. There have been many cases where people have tried to rely on fiber to fix their constipation, but have only found that, regrettably, fiber doesn't fix constipation.

The thinking with regard to fiber helping constipation has always been rooted in the fact that fiber is integral in creating bulk, which helps in pushing the stool through your colon with greater efficiency. However, this is not always the case for everyone who willingly incorporates more fiber into their diet.

Myth Busting - Fiber Fixes Constipation

1. The first reason why fiber doesn't fix constipation has to do with the fact that the evidence just does not support it! Contrary to conventional or popular wisdom, fiber has not been proven to actually make it easier for people to have a bowel movement. This is based on a 1997 study conducted by the Society of General Internal Medicine. The study found that, contrary to what many people actually think, fiber only modestly improved the frequency of bowel movements in adults, meaning that there was actually unsatisfactory evidence produced in said study to support the notion that fiber meaningfully helps with constipation.

2. Another reason that fiber doesn't fix constipation is the fact that it has the tendency, again, only in some people, to actually irritate the lining of one’s bowel. Fiber actually has a tendency to irritate the bowels in some cases because of the presence of polysaccharides. These are known as pretty complex carbs. If you already suffer from something as difficult as constipation, you know that it is a digestive difficulty. As it stands, a lot of people with these digestive difficulties are also already sensitive to complex carbs, complex carbs such as the aforementioned polysaccharides.

 3. For certain people, an increase in their fiber intake along with extra water can actually lead to greater and more bothersome constipation. According to some endocrinologists, fiber can actually have the totally opposite effect of the one that is needed. This opposite effect is actually that one’s bowels can become agitated by the intake of too much fiber. Fiber is available naturally in foods like whole-grain cereals and breads, but it can also be taken in products like Metamucil. For some people, the stimulating effects of fiber that usually lead to more frequent and easier bowel movements instead make the constipation worse. For these types of people, something like a stool softener is instead going to work a lot better. In fact, if a person with constipation tells his or her doctor that fiber is not working in creating easier bowel movements, the doctor is likely going to recommend stool softeners. These stool softeners usually carry ducosate sodium such as Colace.

4. Fiber doesn't fix constipation since it actually can hurt a person more than help a person who already suffers from constipation. First of all, taking more fiber into a person’s diet can really rough up, so to speak, one’s gastrointestinal tract. In addition to this predicament, fiber can also have the effect of making the gastrointestinal tract produce a lot more mucus than it normally does. Both of these happenings are not going to help a person who already is enduring constipation! Furthermore, we all know that fiber absorbs water, which has another effect in the human body: It cause the bulk to become bigger. As a consequence, those people with strictures are going to experience a more difficult time in passing through the tinier diameter parts.

5. Fiber doesn't fix constipation for people who suffer from neurological conditions. These can be things such as Parkinson’s disease. If one’s nerves that regulate the passage of both waste products as well as digested foods through one’s lower digestive tract are damaged, then fiber will not help. Fiber will not help because all it will be doing is adding to the quantity of waste that already has to be moved out of the colon.

As you can read, fiber doesn't fix constipation for all people! If you are one of the people for whom fiber works, then you should be lucky and count yourself among the fortunate. However, for a lot of other people, fiber is not going to help them achieve any relief from constipation, although this is the conventional wisdom out there. For people for whom fiber fails to work, they have to resort to other means of dealing with their constipation situation.

There are several reasons why fiber doesn't fix constipation in some people. For starters, this may be an exaggeration because studies do not really support the idea that fiber helps constipation, at least not in a conclusive way. Furthermore, fiber has been known to actually irritate as well as aggravate one’s bowels, leading to worse problems with the constipation! In still other cases, fiber can even rough up the gastrointestinal tract and cause it to make lots more mucus than it normally does. Finally, people with Parkinson’s disease are likely not going to get fiber-based relief from constipation.