Dietary Fiber and Constipation

Constipation is a frequent problem among elderly people. Diseases of cognitive decline such as Parkinson’s affect the autonomic nervous system. That’s the parts of your body that work on  autopilot such as blood pressure and digestion.

When digestion slows down, it can result in constipation.

There are many other causes of constipation. Opioid drugs are an example of another cause.

Chemotherapy can also plug you up. Lots of medical treatments have constipation as a side effect.

The condition can happen to anyone. We see it in our assisted living homes a lot. Mostly from people who move in.

Constipation can be painful. People often visit their doctor because it is so uncomfortable.

I bet you can guess what many doctor’s first recommendation is to alleviate constipation.

“You should add more fiber to your diet.”

That’s the conventional wisdom. According to the Mayo Clinic:

“Fiber adds bulk to stool and helps the stool hold fluids. These factors give stool the right shape and weight to move through the colon.”

If all these doctors say this, it must be right, correct?

Not necessarily. Many of the people we put on a carnivore diet in our homes either never have constipation or clear up their constipation.

A carnivore diet has no fiber in it.

There’s also a study showing the opposite of what doctors are saying.

The study’s title couldn’t make it more obvious:

“Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms”

63 people who had constipation participated in the study. They were put on a no fiber diet for 2 weeks. Then the authors asked them to reduce their fiber to a ‘level that they found acceptable’.

The authors recorded the following at the one and six month intervals in the study:

• Dietary fiber intake

• Symptoms of constipation

• Difficulty in evacuation of stools

• Anal bleeding

• Abdominal bloating

• Abdominal pain

Seems like some of these people had some pretty extreme symptoms.

Anyway, at six months 41 participants remained on no-fiber diet, 16 on a reduced-fiber diet and 6 resumed their high-fiber diet.

Here’s the surprising part:

“Patients who stopped or reduced dietary fiber had significant improvement in their symptoms while those who continued on a high fiber diet had no change. Of those who stopped fiber completely, the bowel frequency increased from one motion in 3.75 d (± 1.59 d) to one motion in 1.0 d (± 0.0 d) (P < 0.001); those with reduced fiber intake had increased bowel frequency from a mean of one motion per 4.19 d (± 2.09 d) to one motion per 1.9 d (± 1.21 d) on a reduced fiber diet (P < 0.001); those who remained on a high fiber diet continued to have a mean of one motion per 6.83 d (± 1.03 d) before and after consultation. For no fiber, reduced fiber and high fiber groups, respectively, symptoms of bloating were present in 0%, 31.3% and 100% (P < 0.001) and straining to pass stools occurred in 0%, 43.8% and 100% (P < 0.001).”

Their conclusion?

“Idiopathic constipation and its associated symptoms can be effectively reduced by stopping or even lowering the intake of dietary fiber.”

It’s the opposite of mainstream recommendations. Maybe if you or a family member is suffering from constipation, it may be worth reducing fiber instead of increasing it?