What is Fiber?
Fiber is well-known for its ability to promote healthy digestion. It helps move the contents in the large intestine more quickly.
Soluble fiber, found in oats, barley, nuts, and seeds, also reduces the absorption of cholesterol, thereby lowering cholesterol levels in the blood. It’s no surprise that this wonder nutrient can aid weight loss too!
Did you know that fiber has 0 calories? Most foods rich in fiber, like broccoli, zucchini, turnip greens, and carrots, are super-low in calories as well!
Fiber Keeps You Full For Long!
Despite being calorie-free, fiber helps you feel full for a much longer time.
How does it do that?
Fiber swells in the stomach, and in that process, provides bulk to foods, thus keeping you full. This makes the stomach expand, which releases the cholecystokinin hormone, more commonly known as the satiety hormone. This hormone signals to the brain that you’re full.
What’s more?
Fiber also gives a nice boost to your metabolism! Fiber cannot be digested by the body. But the body puts in all the work to try and digest it anyway. This process results in burning off those excess calories.
Despite having such a range of benefits, a lot of people do not meet their fiber needs!
Decreased fiber intake has been associated with health conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. A fiber-rich diet has been shown to decrease the risk of all these conditions! Weight loss on fiber is moderated by several factors, like your body weight, lifestyle, other health conditions, and genetics.
Daily Fiber Intake & Weight Loss: The Genetic Angle
FTO is a gene that has been studied to influence weight loss upon fiber consumption. This gene contains instructions to produce Fat mass and obesity-associated protein and has been implicated in conditions like obesity.
People carrying a certain variant of this gene tend to lose more weight on a high-fiber diet than others. Such individuals may benefit more from a fiber-rich diet in terms of weight loss.
Getting a Genetic Test
A simple genetic test can be used to find out what variant of the FTO gene you carry.
Most genetic tests provide your DNA information in the form of a text file called the raw DNA data. This data may seem like Greek and Latin to you.
We, at Xcode Life, can help you interpret this data. All you have to do is upload your raw data and order a nutrition report. Xcode Life then analyzes your raw data in detail to provide you with comprehensive nutrition analysis, including information on your weight loss and weight gain tendencies on different diets.
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