THE TYPICAL Filipino diet, a number of nutritionists have observed, lacks dietary fiber but is excessive in fat. This kind of diet increases the risk of bowel movement irregularities, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis and colorectal cancer.

While a low-fiber diet has been associated with degenerative diseases in the gall bladder and bowel cancer, a high-fiber plant-based diet helps dilute, bind, inactivate and remove toxic substances and carcinogens in the food supply.

Dietary fiber refers to the edible parts of plants or carbohydrates that cannot be digested. Fiber is in all plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes, according to WebMD?s ?Dietary fiber for constipation.?

Far short

Nutrition experts have long lamented that the average Filipino consumed a measly 111 grams and 54 grams of vegetables and fruits?far short of the World Health Organization?s daily dietary allowance for fruits and vegetables, which should be 400 grams per person per day (or two cups of raw vegetable salads or one cup of cooked vegetables per day and three servings of fruits).

Dr. Rosario Acosta, private clinical nutrition specialist, cited a Mayo Clinic literature that stressed that a high-fiber diet carried many health benefits. During the Oct. 20 Novartis Consumer Health launch of natural fiber supplement Benefiber and its beverage recipe contest, she enumerated that:

? Soluble fiber lowers ?bad cholesterol,? reducing cardiovascular disease.

? Fiber helps regulate blood sugar level, retarding the development of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

? Fiber lowers the risk of colorectal cancer.

? Fiber regulates appetite because it slows down transit time in the gut, prolonging the feeling of satiety.

? High fiber diet helps prevent constipation and, in loose bowel movement, helps add bulk to the stool.

The two main forms of dietary fiber are soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber slows digestion and helps the small intestines absorb nutrients from food while the insoluble one adds bulk to stool, helping it pass more quickly through the large intestines.

Foods containing high soluble fiber include dried beans, oats, oat bran, rice bran, barley, citrus fruits, apples, strawberries, peas and potatoes. Insoluble fiber includes wheat bran, whole grains, cereals, seeds, and the skins of many fruits and vegetables.

A high-fat diet particularly containing animal products has been associated in studies by experts with increasing the risk for a number of serious diseases.

Risk factor

?Animal protein increases the levels of hormone IGF1 which is a risk factor for cancer, and high casein (the main protein for cow?s milk) diets allow more carcinogens into cells, which allow more dangerous carcinogen products to bind to DNA, which allow more mutagenic reactions that give rise to cancer cells, which allow more rapid growth of tumors once they are initially formed,? said T. Collin Campbell. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman professor emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University.

?If Filipinos decide to eat plant-based diets and reject fast-food, they could gain much stature, more health and be much richer and independent in the future,? Campbell told Inquirer Science/Health in an exclusive interview.