Fibre in the Diet

[KatyB]

I have found the articles about cholesterol in the diet very interesting but have noticed that fibre in the diet has never been included. I've always understood that fibre is a way of removing cholesterol from the body. In other words, does constipation/bowel movements have any effect on cholesterol results? Does anyone have any views on this?

[Aliwally]

Hi KatyB,

I actually don't know if cholesterol is removed from the body in this way i.e through the gut. Doesn't excess get broken down by the liver or float around in the blood stream if it can't be taken in by people with FH. There are drugs that absorb cholesterol in this way, but then why are we supposed to eat porridge or oats that are fibre and meant to absorb cholesterol?

Not been much help I'm afraid!

[DakCB-UK]

Some of the cholesterol-lowering drugs are called bile sequestrants (Questran and Colestid are the best known), so I think the question would be whether it's bound into bile. Does constipation slow the rate of binding? I don't know.

Maybe the soluble fibre in oats also helps bind cholesterol out, but I don't know. The effects of beta-glucans (found in that fibre) seems like relatively recent research. I like oats, I feel a bit better eating them and they don't seem to do me any harm, so I'll keep eating them for now.

[Aliwally]

prolipid.com/background-art...

This is a good link to the entero hepatic cycle which tells you how cholesterol gets absorbed back to your liver. The diagram is quite easy to understand! I was amazed to discover that 50% gets absorbed from the gut to the liver, where 70% is made into bile. Talk about recycling. Bile then breaks down fats and the remnants are excreted as bile salts in the faeces, so I suppose being constipated would slow all this down.

Dak CB-UK is right, it's the beta glucans in soluble fibre that form a gel to absorb the cholesterol, about 1% drop for every so many grams of fibre (sorry can't remember how much).

I came across this quote from "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins " We animals are the most complicated and perfectly designed pieces of machinery in the known universe". All these complex chemical processes are going on all the time. I like porridge as well..it keeps me going all morning.

[KatyB in reply to Aliwally]

Thanks for the information. Would be interesting to know how many people with high cholesterol (and I don't particulary mean with FH) also suffer with constipation.

[Hidden in reply to KatyB]

Interesting point. The current limit for being diagnosed with high cholesterol was plucked out of the air and has absolutely no backing or reasoning. It would be nice to know that high cholesterol causes constipation and then try to determine at what level that happens (on average). Then make that level a guide for high cholesterol. Better than what they do now.