Types Of Fiber In Your Diet

Eating foods with fiber is important because high-fiber diets reduce your risk of colon cancer, diabetes, diverticulitis, heart disease, obesity and rectal cancer, according to the book "The New Pritikin Program." Fiber is in every plant food, including beans, fruits, grains and vegetables. Fiber is soluble or insoluble. Soluble fibers dissolve in water; insoluble fibers don't. The primary types of soluble fiber are pectin and plant gums. The primary types of insoluble fiber are cellulose and lignin.

Pectin

Pectin is in many ripe fruits and vegetables. Eating pectin reduces your risk of heart disease by lowering the amount of low-density lipoprotein --- LDL, the "bad" cholesterol --- in your blood, according to the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide. Apples, citrus fruits, grapes and strawberries all are loaded with pectin.

Fruits and vegetables have more pectin when they're "whole and intact" rather than chopped, sliced, diced, mashed and, especially, juiced, Dr. Arthur Agatston writes in his book "The South Beach Diet." Agatston explains that the pectin from an apple slows your blood-sugar spikes, while apple juice that lacks pectin because it was removed during the refining process has the opposite effect.

Plant Gums

Plant gums have such a positive impact on lowering cholesterol that Robert Pritikin, a well-known nutrition expert and author of "The New Pritikin Program," describes them as "like cholesterol-lowering drugs but without the danger of harmful side effects." Barley, beans, oats, oat bran and peas all have a lot of plant gums.

Guar gum, a type of plant gum found in beans, slows the absorption of sugar so much that it reduces the "body's wide swings in insulin secretion" and is being tested as a diabetes treatment, according to Pritikin and A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition.

Cellulose

Cellulose, like other insoluble fibers, absorbs so much water that it "dilutes any potential carcinogens" in your intestines and stools, Pritikin writes. It's found in the walls of the woody part of plants. You're most likely to ingest cellulose when you eat green, leafy vegetables such as artichokes, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, kale, lettuce, spinach and watercress or cereals such as wheat bran.

Cellulose also helps you lose weight because it makes you feel so full and satisfied that you're less likely to keep eating, Pritikin adds.

Lignin

Lignin is inside the cellulose walls of woody plants and helps plants stand erect. It's in many of the same grains and vegetables as cellulose. Bread, cereal, nuts, pasta, rice and seeds all are good sources of insoluble fiber. "The New Pritikin Program" reports that insoluble fibers such as cellulose and lignin reduce the risk of gallstones and irritable bowel syndrome. "High Fiber," a University of Illinois report, notes that insoluble fibers such as lignin and cellulose are effective in treating constipation and can prevent colon cancer and diverticulitis.