I'm 99% certain it's a new lack of fiber as the American diet becomes more attuned to meat and starch.
I would bet MONEY that if you looked at IBD rates among people who tend to frequent taco bell (lots of beans == lots of fiber) and people who tend to frequent, say, McD's, you'd see a lower rate among TB-goers. Doesn't seem like a hard experiment to set up.
Fiber supplementation can worsen symptoms of IBS as it draws water into the colon. "Just eat more fibre" is a knee jerk response of people unfamiliar with the science. These conditions are corelated to inflamation and often it's FODMAPs which are a major contributor.
This is just wrong. First of all, IBS != IBD. Second of all, IBD doctors will flat out recommend high fiber Mediterranean style diets for anybody who is not in an active flair.
Low FODMAP is also recommended for IBD and is quite reputable although not a silver bullet. I agree with the above poster that Fiber if anything is an old hat approach which can make things worse as easily as they make things better. Low fiber diets are used ALL THE TIME in the treatment of ibs/Ibd, as are high fiber diets.
I am rather convinced quite a few peopl have IBS/IBD in significant part due to their high fiber diet which tend to be high in FODMAPs if not meticulously designed and inflame the intestines with solid residue. People blindly recommending fiber as a panacea, and I’m not saying it doesn’t have a place in the treatment of IBS/IBD, but just blindly throwing fiber at the problem as if it’s always going to help us legitimately going to land people in hospital.
A big advantage to the low FODMAP diet and why it’s taken off is that it can treat constipation and diarrhea without having to adopt a high fibre diet.
I have no idea, but is it possible that the lack of fiber can cause an illness, and that adding fiber at that point can make symptoms of that illness worse, once it's taken hold?
Yes, you can get inflamed from constipation and bacteria screwing with you and such, and then insoluable fiber and other material that doesn’t digest can cause more irritation, but I’d argue the biggest problem with fiber might not be fiber itself but the foods that have fiber in them because they all tend to have FODMAPs which are also implicated in ibs/ibd.
Fiber I believe it’s generally recommended you take as much as you can if you aren’t having issues.
Dennis Burkitt documented this in 1973[0][1]. Unfortunately "Don't Forget Fibre in your Diet" (1979) and "F-Plan Diet" (1983) have faded into history a bit.
The Mayo Clinic [0] says the recommended daily intake for adults is 38g for men or 25g for women. A little less if you're over 50.
The USDA [1] makes their calculations from a proportion of 14g fiber for each 1000kcal consumed - if you're an adult male with a healthy diet you're likely consuming around 2000-2500kcal, which puts your fiber needs at 28-35g per day.
You probably need more of it, but I'm not a doctor and even less *your* doctor, so please don't just take my word for it. :)
I would bet MONEY that if you looked at IBD rates among people who tend to frequent taco bell (lots of beans == lots of fiber) and people who tend to frequent, say, McD's, you'd see a lower rate among TB-goers. Doesn't seem like a hard experiment to set up.