/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>7559771
>>7559721
>>7559778
>>7559222
>>7556767
"Fiber" has barely any common traits at all. And no, not all fiber is laxative, in fact some fiber is slightly constipating, while other fiber can act against both constipation and diarrhea. The fiber in fruits and vegetables typically has almost no laxative effect, for example, even though those are commonly recommended as good "fiber" sources. The strongest laxative fiber is found in wheat bran. The strongest food-based laxative in general are prunes, which work through sorbitol (not really a fiber) and phenolic compounds (not fiber). Prunes are more effective at laxation than both psyllium husk and wheat bran. Psyllium and wheat bran also help against diarrhea through their bulking effect, so they can work either way.

It is true that some fiber slows down passage of the food through the small intestine but this effect is negligible for the formation of stool since the orocecal transit time for a solid meal is usually no more than 10-12 hours. Constipation and diarrhea tend to originate in the colon unless the small intestine is fucked up (like in celiac) and undigested food gets into the colon where it draws water in.

Even this chart is incomplete and has some slight errors (for example, oligosaccharides can have a decent laxative effect at certain doses). However, no fermentable carbohydrates help against diarrhea because they all draw water into the colon if they are not fermented anyway (which only produces gas that may worsen diarrhea further)

The amount of gas produced varies widely depending on the type of fiber consumed. Of course "fiber" is still a meaningful category, but there are a lot of different substances in plant foods which are "fiber" but have very different effects in the GI tract. So one thing you can do is try to adjust the type of fiber consumed (i.e. reduce oligosaccharides [onion, garlic, legumes, wheat] and sugar alcohols [stone fruits, apples, pears]). Plus your gut microbiome can adjust over time (i.e. some strains of bacteria can consume gas produced by others, so the farts are essentially eaten before they can leave)

>>7460390
There are as many types of fiber as you are willing to classify.