FIBER FOR YOUNGER CELLS!
Food really is magic. The right foods have the power to shift your health, energy, mood, and even help your cells stay younger!
A cool study in the journal Nutrients found that FIBER can make cells act younger.
The study included 5,674 people and looked at the amount of fiber they ate + their telomere length, which is a measure of a cell’s age.
For a little background: Telomeres are protective caps on chromosomes in a cell (they are like the caps on shoelaces that keep them from fraying.) Young cells have long telomeres, and as cells get older the telomeres get shorter.
The researchers found people who ate more fiber (~19 grams per day*) had cells that acted 5 years younger than people eating a low fiber diet (~9 grams per day*).
And the best news of the study…
Adding just 2 grams fiber per day* made cells act about 6 months younger.
*based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Adding just 2 extra grams of fiber daily is totally doable! It’s like 1/2 of an apple. Of course, more fiber is better, but it is very exciting that even a small fiber increase can make a positive impact.
SO HERE’S THE BIG QUESTION:
How much fiber do YOU eat each day?
Likely it is only ~13 grams per day, which is much less than the recommended goal of 30 grams of fiber per day.
But there really is only one way to find out how much fiber you’re eating: Log your fiber grams for 7 days.
Use package labels to find fiber grams and for whole foods without labels (like produce), I use the USDA FoodData Central HERE. And when the week is over, calculate your average to see how close you are to 30 grams a day.
NEED MORE FIBER?
Read THIS to learn about which foods can help increase your fiber!!
PS: In addition to your diet, other things that make your cells act younger (help those telomere caps to be longer) include regular exercise & quality sleep!
Susan says
Do fiber supplements, like whole psyllium husk or inulin, also contribute to younger-acting cells? Also, wondering about soluble v insoluble . . . is there a ratio that’s right? Thank you!!
DJ Blatner, RDN says
This study didn’t tease out benefits of fiber supplements specifically. However an educated guess is: Since fiber supplements tend to have a positive effect on the gut microbiome, they would likely help cells act younger (though likely not as much as whole food). Most of the fiber the study participants ate came from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, not supplements. It’s very difficult to determine if you are eating insoluble or souble fiber since most foods are a mix of both & it’s not specifically listed on labels. So the recommendation is to get fiber from a variety of sources to help have more balanced nutrition AND to get a wider variety of fiber types.
Susan says
This helps so much–thank you! The hubs and I debate fiber supplements all the time: downing a tablespoon is efficient when it comes to getting those grams, but I’ve always wondered if it’s as good for me 🙂