Does Insoluble Fiber Lower Intestinal Ph?

Plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts, contain compounds, collectively classified as fiber, that your body cannot fully digest. Foods contain two different types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, and they perform different functions within the body yet both promote good health. Insoluble fiber travels through the digestive tract largely unchanged, which stimulates the activity of intestinal bacteria in the large intestine and helps to regulate the intestinal pH.

Intestinal Bacteria

The human body contains more bacteria than it does human cells. The bacteria in the digestive tract help protect the body from infection caused by harmful bacteria ingested. Your intestines contain good bacteria and bad bacteria that are in constant battle for dominance. Your stomach maintains a low pH, between 2 and 4, due to the presence of stomach acid consisting of hydrochloric acid. The pH of the intestines gradually increases the farther you travel away from the stomach. Your intestines contain two main types of bacteria: lactic acid-producing bacteria, also known as fermentative bacteria that prefer a low, or acidic, pH; and putrefactive bacteria that prefer a higher pH. As the pH of your intestines increases, putrefactive bacteria can take over and promote the growth of harmful forms of Candida yeast that can damage the intestines.

Bacterial Digestion

Digestion involves mechanical processes like chewing and swallowing and chemical breakdown. The majority of digestion occurs in the stomach and small intestines where enzymes break food particles into tiny nutrients the cells lining the small intestine can absorb. Enzymes cannot break down fiber, so it remains in the digestive tract and travels into the large intestines with the waste products where the lactic acid bacteria attempt to break down fiber through the process of fermentation. Fermentation produces organic acids that lower intestinal pH and excess gas that can cause abdominal bloating and cramps.

Insoluble Fiber

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic suggest that men under the age of 50 consume 38 grams of fiber per day, and women in the same age group at least 25 grams. High-fiber foods, like wheat bran, whole grains, nuts and vegetables, contain insoluble fiber that cannot dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber helps maintain a healthy digestive tract by lowering pH to promote healthy bacteria, adding bulk to stool and attracting water that helps soften stools. Eating a diet rich in insoluble fiber helps prevent constipation and associated conditions like hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.

Soluble Fiber

Soluble fiber, the type of fiber found in oats, peas, beans and fruit, dissolves in water to produce a gellike substance in the intestines. Soluble fiber binds to bile – a digestive substance produced in the liver that aids in the breakdown of dietary fat – and removes it from the body with the stool. Because the liver uses cholesterol to produce bile, removing bile removes cholesterol from your body. Although soluble fiber does not impact intestinal pH as much as insoluble fiber, it helps lower blood cholesterol levels, and this contributes to overall good health.