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[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.400] Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus.
[00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.920] Today, we're pitting facts against fiber.
[00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:21.680] That's right, the world's least sexy nutrient has been getting a glow-up recently.
[00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:32.240] You might think of fiber as something your grandpa kept going on about, but all over TikTok and socials, the sexiest people online are obsessed with it.
[00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:34.000] Fiber, that's the answer.
[00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.680] Fuel your body with fiber.
[00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:37.360] I need to see more fiber and sodium.
[00:00:37.360 --> 00:00:40.560] It'll change the way that you think of food forever.
[00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.880] People say that this one little nutrient packs a huge punch.
[00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:46.800] It'll supercharge your gut.
[00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:51.920] Say goodbye to gut inflammation and hello to the best poos in town.
[00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:53.920] Start eating food that is rich in fiber.
[00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.160] Hey, you'd be dropping logs daily.
[00:00:56.160 --> 00:00:59.120] People are saying it can help you lose a ton of weight.
[00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:02.960] Fiber is literally gonna shrink your waistline.
[00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.640] I've lost weight, my belly fat's gone, my mad boobs are gone.
[00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.080] Apparently, with enough fiber, your depression could be gone too.
[00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:12.240] So you're not eating enough fiber?
[00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:13.920] Your anxiety is gonna skyrocket.
[00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:19.840] I was suffering with depression for over a year, and it was because I had neglected fiber.
[00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:26.480] We're hearing that fiber can even prevent other scary things like heart disease and cancer.
[00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:30.240] Yet, apparently, a ton of us just aren't getting enough of it.
[00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:37.200] According to national surveys, over 90% of folks in the US aren't eating enough fiber every day.
[00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.720] 90%.
[00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:46.080] So, could adding a few scoops of bran to your diet really be the thing to make you a better and brighter you?
[00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:50.800] When it comes to fiber, a lot of us want to be dropping logs daily.
[00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:52.960] But then there's science.
[00:01:54.240 --> 00:01:58.000] Science versus fiber is coming up just after the break.
[00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.760] The toilet break?
[00:02:11.320 --> 00:02:13.800] This episode is brought to you by Indeed.
[00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.600] Taking things slow isn't always a good thing.
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[00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:53.240] Hiring, indeed, is all you need.
[00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:56.440] This episode is brought to you by KPMG.
[00:02:56.440 --> 00:03:02.840] Science helps shape how KPMG views transformation, but it's their people who make it real.
[00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:11.560] They help clients visualize data, understand how consumers think, and use AI to craft emotionally resonant experiences.
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[00:03:36.200 --> 00:03:37.240] Welcome back.
[00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:41.400] Today on the show, we are diving into the world of fiber.
[00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.440] And to help us out, we have producer Michelle Dang.
[00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:45.000] Hi, Wendy.
[00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:47.280] How cool do you think fiber is?
[00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:47.680] I don't know.
[00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:50.080] I'm very impressed by fiber.
[00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.320] Impressed by fiber.
[00:03:52.320 --> 00:03:57.600] Fiber can affect so many different parts of your body that I didn't realize before.
[00:03:57.920 --> 00:03:58.400] Okay.
[00:03:58.400 --> 00:03:58.800] All right.
[00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:00.080] Well, where do we begin?
[00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.680] Okay, Wendy, so the one thing that everybody knows about fiber is.
[00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:05.360] It keeps you regular.
[00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.160] Yes.
[00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:11.520] Which is such a funny euphemism for it makes you do good poos.
[00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.760] Yes, regular good poos.
[00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:17.360] Now, I don't want to stay in poo land for too long, surprisingly for me.
[00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.080] But why exactly does fiber do this?
[00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:20.960] So I talked to Dr.
[00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:27.680] Deirdre Mickelson at the University of Queensland, and she told me what the ideal fibery poo looks like.
[00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:29.040] The sausage.
[00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.440] That's a sausage, indeed.
[00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:32.480] That's a sausage.
[00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:35.520] So you want sausages coming out of your end.
[00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:36.640] Smooth and soft.
[00:04:36.640 --> 00:04:37.360] That's right.
[00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.400] Smooth and soft because, you know, it's just coming out.
[00:04:40.400 --> 00:04:42.560] You're not having to force it.
[00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:48.000] So why does a good sausagey poo have a bunch of fiber in it?
[00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.680] Okay, so fibers are generally these carbs we can't digest.
[00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:56.000] They basically don't get destroyed by the juices that our gut throws at them.
[00:04:56.880 --> 00:05:04.080] And, well, particularly think about the tough part of fruits and veggies, like the skin or even nuts.
[00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:07.840] The fiber in these make it all the way down to your poo pipe.
[00:05:07.840 --> 00:05:09.280] Your lower intestine.
[00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:10.080] Yes.
[00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:13.600] And they end up adding weight and size to your poo.
[00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:24.000] Oh, because if you eat something, I don't know, low in fiber, like white bread or something, a lot of that is just going to get absorbed by your small intestine or whatever.
[00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.720] It's not going to get all the way down to your poo pipe, as you say.
[00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:45.000] Yeah, and here's the other part of it: if you zoom in on a piece of fiber, it kind of looks like a tangled ball of yarn, and in between the strands of it, that piece of fiber can entrap water.
[00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:50.120] This helps you get a nice, moist poo that moves along as well.
[00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:51.640] Oh, that's cool.
[00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:53.080] No dry poos.
[00:05:53.080 --> 00:06:00.760] There's actually a study from the 80s where they tracked how long it took 12 people to poo after eating.
[00:06:00.760 --> 00:06:06.120] And on average, fiber made their poos faster by 24 hours.
[00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:13.000] Wait, so just by eating fiber, stuff moved through their gut faster by 24 hours?
[00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.720] So, you know, it shaved off a whole day.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:18.200] That's impressive.
[00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:19.160] That's impressive.
[00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:20.920] Okay, away from poo now.
[00:06:21.400 --> 00:06:25.160] Can we dive into these bigger claims about the gut?
[00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:33.240] Like, I've heard that eating fiber can reduce the chance of you getting leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer.
[00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:33.960] Yes.
[00:06:33.960 --> 00:06:43.160] To get us into all of those, you and me, we're going to start off by looking at this amazing study that Deirdre did involving pigs.
[00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:43.880] Oh, okay.
[00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:46.520] Wendy, I don't think we do enough pig studies on this show.
[00:06:46.520 --> 00:06:47.320] Okay, okay.
[00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:49.640] Well, let's bring in the pigs.
[00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:56.920] So, several years ago, Deirdre and her team got 40 pigs, and these were chunky white pigs.
[00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:00.360] So, do imagine babe or Wilbur.
[00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:01.000] Okay.
[00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:06.680] And they used these pigs because our guts are actually pretty similar to piggy guts.
[00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.560] So, what happened to these little Wilburs?
[00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:12.600] All these pigs got a fancy meal.
[00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:16.080] We fed pigs steak and this was good steak.
[00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:18.320] This is not some crummy thing.
[00:07:14.840 --> 00:07:20.720] It was barbecued, you know, steak.
[00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.920] So everyone got the steak as part of their diet, but half of them had a bunch more wheat fiber added to their diets too.
[00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:28.320] Okay.
[00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:34.000] And they had to eat like this for a month before it was time to check on their guts.
[00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.680] And well, to do that, these pigs were then sacrificed.
[00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.680] The next step was for Deirdre to take a close look at what's going on in their intestines.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.080] And well, these things are really long.
[00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:56.880] So if you think about your garden hose, your green garden hose and how long that green garden hose was, that is basically what I unraveled.
[00:07:56.880 --> 00:08:02.400] Next, she gently squeezed the semi-digested food out of the intestines.
[00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:07.120] And that made me go off pork for about three months.
[00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.760] I could not eat Japanese curry or any form of curry that'll look yellowish or whatever.
[00:08:11.760 --> 00:08:13.600] Sorry, I know it's a bit gross.
[00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.680] Yeah, it is a bit gross.
[00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:20.080] Here's where Deirdre is ready to do the fun part of the experiment.
[00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:27.200] She took this digested yellowy brown stuff and stuck it under a microscope.
[00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:29.200] So big reveal.
[00:08:29.200 --> 00:08:31.680] Deirdre's a microbiologist.
[00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.760] So she wants to look at what the gut bugs were up to in these pigs.
[00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:38.720] So what was going on with the gut bugs?
[00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.120] What did the fiber do to the gut bugs?
[00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:42.960] Ooh, do you want to see pictures from her study?
[00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:43.360] Yes.
[00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.000] Oh my gosh.
[00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:44.960] Yes, yes, yes.
[00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.120] So this is what she saw under the microscope.
[00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.200] They looked at bits of meat inside the pig guts and bits of fiber.
[00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.640] Okay, what am I looking at?
[00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:55.040] Do you see these little green dots?
[00:08:55.040 --> 00:08:56.480] Yes, yes.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.720] Those are, those are bacteria.
[00:08:58.720 --> 00:08:59.760] Oh, okay.
[00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:03.400] And do you see any green dots on this piece of meat?
[00:09:03.400 --> 00:09:08.440] No, they do not care about that little remnant of steak at all.
[00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:08.840] Yeah.
[00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:11.560] Here's Deirdre.
[00:09:11.560 --> 00:09:19.560] Interestingly, the microbes did not attach to the meat, but they were very much attached to the fiber.
[00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:24.360] You could definitely see the microbes actually sticking to the fiber.
[00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.040] They're having a feast, basically.
[00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:28.120] Absolutely, they're having a feast.
[00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.520] Let me show you the piece of fiber.
[00:09:30.520 --> 00:09:31.800] Oh, whoa!
[00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:34.840] Oh my gosh, they love that fiber!
[00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:36.840] There's so many of them on there, right?
[00:09:37.160 --> 00:09:38.440] So many of them on there.
[00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:39.960] It's like a huge body.
[00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:40.680] I was trying to think.
[00:09:40.680 --> 00:09:43.320] It looked like, this looks like cicadas stuck in a tree.
[00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:47.240] Like, there's so many of them and they're all up in like all the crevices.
[00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:55.640] What does this mean for our health that these gut bugs love fiber and do not like little bits of steak?
[00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:59.640] Yeah, fiber is the main food for these gut bugs.
[00:09:59.640 --> 00:10:04.120] I mean, they'll eat meat if they have to, but it's not what they want.
[00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:08.680] We know that they get more energy from fiber over meat.
[00:10:08.680 --> 00:10:09.160] Oh.
[00:10:09.400 --> 00:10:26.760] And the fact that you're feeding gut bugs with fiber matters a lot because when Deirdre looked at the pigs who got more fiber compared to the ones who didn't, they not only had more good gut bugs, they had this amazing variety of them too, which is super important.
[00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:43.400] What is time and time again coming through in all the studies that are being done, is that a healthy gut microbiome or a healthy gut microbiota is one that is stable, one that is diverse, and one that has got abundance.
[00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:53.760] This is something that I've heard from researchers: if you think about your gut like a rainforest, and a healthy rainforest has lots of different animals, monkeys, cool insects.
[00:10:53.760 --> 00:10:59.600] And that's a healthy rainforest, but an unhealthy rainforest is a monoculture.
[00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:02.000] And that's true with your gut as well.
[00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:19.280] Yeah, and in studies in people, we also know that both eating more fiber and having a more diverse gut bug ecosystem is linked to a lower risk of chronic diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
[00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:20.560] Oh, that's cool.
[00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:27.200] And so, what exactly are these gut bugs doing that's sort of making our gut healthy?
[00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:36.080] Yeah, so there are specific kinds of bacteria that eat fiber and leave behind this chemical called short-chain fatty acids.
[00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:40.080] Oh, so the gut bugs are kind of excreting these chemicals.
[00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:46.320] Yeah, and interestingly, the cells in your large intestine slurp up these acids as energy.
[00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:47.040] Really?
[00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:49.920] Like this stuff that gut bugs are farting out?
[00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:53.520] Owl gut cells actually use that for nutrients?
[00:11:53.520 --> 00:11:55.360] Yes, it's very cool.
[00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:00.240] And now let me tell you what happens if you don't feed your gut bugs.
[00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:01.760] It's not good.
[00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:05.920] And that's where I think people don't realize that they're starving their microbes.
[00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:10.640] They're starving a portion, a very important part of themselves.
[00:12:10.640 --> 00:12:14.960] Yeah, one thing microbes start to do is eat each other.
[00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.520] Dog eat, dog world, if you like.
[00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.680] But that's not all.
[00:12:19.680 --> 00:12:23.600] These hungry gut bugs can go after you, too.
[00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:28.240] They'll also start eating the mucin that lines the gut.
[00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:29.120] Oh.
[00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:45.960] Mucin is kind of like this beautiful snot that lines your gut, and it acts as a wall of defense between all the harmful stuff that's in your intestines, like viruses, bad bacteria, and toxins, and the rest of your body.
[00:12:46.600 --> 00:13:00.680] But if that mucin wall of defense breaks down, those gut cells under the mucin might get damaged, creating little holes in your gut lining that can then let toxins into your blood and cause inflammation.
[00:13:00.680 --> 00:13:08.360] On a very basic level, if you don't eat enough fiber, your gut bugs get hungry.
[00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:18.840] Your once-friendly gut bugs get hungry and they can then start eating this thing that protects your gut lining and so your gut lining starts breaking down.
[00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.080] Yeah, you might have heard it's called leaky gut, and we've seen this happen in mice that don't get any fiber.
[00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:32.760] And so studies have found that people who don't eat enough fiber have holes in their gut.
[00:13:32.760 --> 00:13:42.200] Yeah, we think that's part of the reason why low fiber is linked to some of those bad gut diseases I mentioned, like inflammatory bowel disease.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:45.720] Okay, and then what about cancer?
[00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:51.480] Well, not eating enough fiber can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:56.680] In fact, Deirdre's colleagues saw the beginning signs of this in some of the pigs.
[00:13:56.680 --> 00:14:05.880] Within a month, without fiber, and if you had that high-protein diet, you were on track to develop colorectal cancer.
[00:14:05.880 --> 00:14:08.120] And that was frightening.
[00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:10.840] What did they say?
[00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:16.800] That the pigs who got less fiber actually had worse DNA damage in their gut cells.
[00:14:16.800 --> 00:14:18.240] And why is that?
[00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.000] Well, one reason is because fiber helps keep your gut cells happy, right?
[00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:22.240] Right.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:22.320] Right.
[00:14:22.560 --> 00:14:23.680] And happy and healthy.
[00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:24.320] Yes.
[00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:31.760] But also, if you have a diet that's high in red meat, we know that can produce carcinogens in your gut.
[00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:43.600] And if you're not eating fiber and not pooing regularly, that means those toxins stay in the gut for longer, giving them more time to damage the DNA in gut cells.
[00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:44.960] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:46.880] Here's Deirdre on that.
[00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.880] You can just see the effect starkly within a month.
[00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:54.640] Like that was what was so shocking.
[00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:07.360] In one review, people who ate the most fiber compared to people who ate the least fiber had a lower risk of colorectal cancer by something like a third.
[00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:12.320] All right, Michelle, I am convinced that fiber is very important for my gut.
[00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:16.560] Reduces my risk of colon cancer and all those yucky gut diseases.
[00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:17.680] That is all amazing.
[00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:18.800] And it helps you poo.
[00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:20.800] And it helps me poo.
[00:15:20.800 --> 00:15:22.640] Something I love as well.
[00:15:22.640 --> 00:15:28.800] All right, next up, can we look at these claims around fiber and depression?
[00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:33.440] That eating fiber can help with your mental health.
[00:15:34.400 --> 00:15:38.400] Okay, so we do know the brain and the gut talk to each other in different ways.
[00:15:38.400 --> 00:15:41.680] Like there's a big nerve that connects the gut and the brain.
[00:15:42.400 --> 00:15:51.200] And we're getting more and more evidence suggesting that our gut microbes could be pumping out stuff like neurotransmitters that can chat with our brain.
[00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:56.880] Here's John Crine, a neuroscientist from University College Cork in Ireland.
[00:15:56.880 --> 00:16:01.480] So, our gut talks to our brain, but our brain talks to our gut.
[00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.240] Two ways, three.
[00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:17.240] And when it comes to why fiber in particular might help your brain, do you remember how when you eat fiber, certain gut bugs will eat that up and make those short-chain fatty acids?
[00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:17.720] Yes.
[00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:26.120] Well, we think that those can travel through our blood to the brain and possibly help how neurons communicate with each other.
[00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:27.000] Oh.
[00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:35.480] So recently, John took fresh brain slices from mice and doused them with those chemicals that microbes make.
[00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:45.640] And what he saw was that these chemicals could affect synaptic plasticity, which is how neurons can change their connections between each other.
[00:16:45.640 --> 00:16:48.440] That's what helps us make memories and learn stuff.
[00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.440] And John says it also might be helpful in treating depression.
[00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:59.960] So here's how John thinks about fiber: I think it is the fuel for your microbe factory.
[00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:03.640] It is fuel and it's fuel for your brain.
[00:17:03.640 --> 00:17:08.120] So have there been any studies in people to really test this out?
[00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:12.040] This idea that fiber can reduce depression?
[00:17:12.040 --> 00:17:20.360] Okay, so there are studies that have asked thousands of people about how much fiber they eat and separately what their mental health is like.
[00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:25.720] And they generally do find a link between low fiber and depression and anxiety.
[00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:26.600] That's interesting.
[00:17:26.600 --> 00:17:29.400] Studies like this led to a lot of exciting headlines.
[00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:30.360] I'm sure.
[00:17:30.360 --> 00:17:34.880] Quote, the key to reducing your depression risk could be fiber, study says.
[00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:35.720] End quote.
[00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:46.320] I guess with those studies, though, it is impossible to know if it was the fiber that caused the boost in mental health, right?
[00:17:46.320 --> 00:17:53.040] Because, like, fiber, eating a lot of fiber generally comes with a generally more healthy diet of eating fruits and vegetables.
[00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.480] There's lots of reasons why, if you already have depression, you might not be eating a healthy diet.
[00:17:58.480 --> 00:17:58.880] Yes.
[00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:07.200] It's hard to know in those types of studies if it's really fiber making a difference here versus other stuff going on in their lives.
[00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:08.000] Exactly.
[00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:26.560] And so, to get to causation, we need our favorite randomized controlled trials where researchers randomly assign people to take a pill filled with fiber and see if it improves their mental health compared to a control that gets a placebo.
[00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:26.960] Great.
[00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.200] Okay.
[00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:27.440] Okay.
[00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:28.800] So, what do these studies find?
[00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:36.720] In this big meta-analysis that John was a part of, they looked at 10 of these studies and only two found it worked.
[00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.640] The rest of the eight studies didn't.
[00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:39.440] Oh.
[00:18:39.760 --> 00:18:40.400] Yeah.
[00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:50.400] In the results of the meta-analysis, they said, quote, no difference was found between fiber supplementation and placebo for depressive or anxiety outcomes.
[00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:51.120] Yeah.
[00:18:51.760 --> 00:18:52.640] Disappointing, though.
[00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:55.760] Would it be nice if fiber was the key to your mental health?
[00:18:55.760 --> 00:18:57.600] I asked John about it.
[00:18:57.600 --> 00:19:03.040] The bottom line for depression is that, like, right now, the evidence for fiber isn't there.
[00:19:03.040 --> 00:19:04.320] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:04.720] Okay.
[00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.400] But that doesn't mean it won't work.
[00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:07.200] Wait.
[00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:08.800] Why is he saying that?
[00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:14.000] I mean, one reason is that these studies kind of reduce fiber down to a pill.
[00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:23.120] Whereas some researchers say that eating fiber from a bunch of different foods is what will make gut bugs happier.
[00:19:23.280 --> 00:19:23.840] Okay.
[00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:32.600] Maybe we need to be doing these studies where we're telling people to eat a big fiber-filled diet instead of just taking a small supplement.
[00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.840] After the break, weight loss.
[00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:38.840] Can fiber help you shed those pounds?
[00:19:38.840 --> 00:19:42.680] Plus, how fiber might even save your life?
[00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:43.880] Coming up.
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[00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:50.400] Welcome back.
[00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.560] Today on the show, we are talking about the wonders of fiber.
[00:22:54.560 --> 00:23:02.360] You thought it was just your grandpa's cereal, but in fact, the fiber's getting a glow up.
[00:23:02.360 --> 00:23:03.560] We're giving it a glow up.
[00:23:03.560 --> 00:23:05.960] We're here with producer Michelle Dang.
[00:22:59.600 --> 00:23:08.200] And now, what do you next?
[00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.080] We are going to the heart.
[00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:15.080] We think fiber might actually be a lifesaver here.
[00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:15.800] Interesting.
[00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:17.320] How does this work?
[00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:22.200] Yeah, so we've kind of been talking about fiber as one thing.
[00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.720] It actually breaks down into a couple different types.
[00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.800] So there's soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.
[00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:35.160] And within the soluble type, you've got stuff that turns into kind of a gel.
[00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:38.600] Sticky, we call it sticky fiber sometimes, the viscous fiber.
[00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:39.960] This is Andrea Glenn.
[00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.400] She's a nutrition scientist at New York University.
[00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:48.360] And I asked Andrea about where we find viscous fiber in the first place.
[00:23:48.360 --> 00:23:53.400] You think of like oatmeal, like if you're playing with cooked oatmeal, it's gonna stick to your hands.
[00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:55.400] And that's the viscous fiber.
[00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:57.640] Have you ever eaten okra before?
[00:23:57.640 --> 00:23:58.840] And it's kind of jelly.
[00:23:59.000 --> 00:23:59.560] Slimy.
[00:23:59.560 --> 00:23:59.720] Yeah.
[00:24:00.760 --> 00:24:03.080] Yeah, so that's also viscous fiber.
[00:24:03.080 --> 00:24:09.400] So yeah, it's in a bunch of stuff, like fruit, eggplant, mushrooms, beans, for example.
[00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:15.800] And when it continues to mix with water in your stomach, the gel gets even thicker.
[00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:19.480] And so then how is that good for your heart?
[00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:20.760] Well, it starts here.
[00:24:20.760 --> 00:24:31.400] So a big reason that people develop heart disease is because eating sugar and fun stuff like muffins, candy can give you high blood sugar spikes.
[00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:31.960] Right.
[00:24:32.280 --> 00:24:42.120] And if that happens over and over again, you can get insulin resistance, which can then lead to diabetes or even heart disease.
[00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:48.160] And what's super cool is that sticky fiber can help stop those high sugar spikes.
[00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:48.960] How?
[00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:54.160] Because when you eat food, that becomes that thick, gooey stuff.
[00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.600] What that does is it slows down digestion.
[00:24:57.600 --> 00:25:00.320] So it stays in your stomach longer.
[00:25:00.320 --> 00:25:04.080] You know, because it's like physically sticky and heavy.
[00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:18.160] In one study, they fed people five grams of gorgum, a viscous fiber, with a meal and found that it slowed down food going from the stomach to the small intestine by nearly two hours.
[00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.720] But didn't it make us poo faster?
[00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.800] Now it's making us poo slower.
[00:25:22.800 --> 00:25:28.400] Is this because it makes us poo faster once the food gets into the large intestine?
[00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:33.120] But now all this fun action is happening higher up in the gut?
[00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:34.160] Yeah, exactly.
[00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:39.680] It's specifically slowing down the emptying of your stomach into your small intestine.
[00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:45.360] And this is important because your small intestine is where sugars get sucked up into your blood.
[00:25:45.360 --> 00:25:46.240] Oh.
[00:25:46.560 --> 00:26:02.320] And not only does it slow down food, this goopy, sticky gel is also coating up all the foods that you've eaten with it, creating this barrier around it and making it harder for little digestive enzymes to reach the sugars you've eaten.
[00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:05.040] So it means less sugar gets into your blood?
[00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:11.200] Not that, but it does mean that sugar gets into your blood slower.
[00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.360] Oh, because it's protected by this goop.
[00:26:15.360 --> 00:26:15.760] Right.
[00:26:15.760 --> 00:26:24.320] It makes it harder for your gut to slurp out sugars from the food you've eaten and suck it up into your blood.
[00:26:24.320 --> 00:26:28.080] So your blood sugar goes up slower and then it goes down slower as well.
[00:26:28.080 --> 00:26:32.840] So if we ate an apple with a gummy bear, what would happen then?
[00:26:32.840 --> 00:26:36.040] Yeah, it would be better than just the gummy bear on its own.
[00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.240] Does it cancel out where the sugar?
[00:26:39.800 --> 00:26:41.400] No, definitely not.
[00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:42.040] Okay.
[00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:44.360] If only.
[00:26:44.360 --> 00:26:48.840] Oh, but it actually does help a little because it slows down the sugar spikes, right?
[00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:49.480] Yeah.
[00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:55.880] And then I also want to tell you quickly about cholesterol because fiber helps with that too.
[00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:56.520] Huh.
[00:26:56.520 --> 00:26:57.400] Right.
[00:26:57.400 --> 00:26:59.640] Okay, so it's a very weird journey.
[00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:00.760] Mm-hmm.
[00:27:02.360 --> 00:27:10.840] So the sticky fiber comes along and traps these things called bile acids in our guts, which are there to help us digest food.
[00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:16.680] But this means that your body needs to make more and more bile acids.
[00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:22.200] And what's important for our story here is that bile acids are made up of cholesterol.
[00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.320] Oh.
[00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:39.560] Yeah, so because the sticky fiber is trapping your bile acids, basically taking them out of commission, your body has to make more and more and more bile acids, which means it's sucking up more and more cholesterol from your blood.
[00:27:39.560 --> 00:27:43.080] And that is how eating fiber reduces cholesterol?
[00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:43.400] Yes.
[00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:45.000] It's very tricky, right?
[00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:46.440] It's like, what?
[00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.160] That is very surprising.
[00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:56.520] So does eating this viscous sticky fiber have a measurable effect on the risk of heart disease?
[00:27:56.520 --> 00:28:02.520] Yeah, so recently Andrea did a study to find out like what are the long-term effects here?
[00:28:02.520 --> 00:28:03.080] Yeah.
[00:28:03.080 --> 00:28:09.960] And she used data of more than 200,000 people that had been tracked for about 30 years.
[00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:20.240] And what they found was that people who eat a fiber-packed diet had a 14% lower risk of total cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease.
[00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:23.680] So that includes things like heart attacks and then stroke as well.
[00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.800] That might not all be because of the fiber, though, right?
[00:28:26.800 --> 00:28:33.120] Because, like we've mentioned, if you're eating a healthy diet, you might also be doing things like more exercise or other stuff.
[00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:33.840] That's true.
[00:28:33.840 --> 00:28:34.480] That's true.
[00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:36.160] But Andrea thinks it's real.
[00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:42.080] Yeah, and Andrea could see in the data that the more viscous fiber people ate, the better it was.
[00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:42.880] Cool.
[00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.280] Actually, there's a bunch of studies that have found this over and over again.
[00:28:47.280 --> 00:28:59.120] There's even one meta-analysis that found that for every 10 grams of fiber people ate a day, it brought down their general risk of dying by 10%.
[00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.200] So that's pretty surprising.
[00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:02.960] Fiber, huh?
[00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:04.800] Can help you live longer.
[00:29:04.800 --> 00:29:05.360] All right.
[00:29:05.360 --> 00:29:12.640] So if that wasn't a reason enough to eat fiber, the last thing we're going to look at is this claim around weight loss.
[00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.400] So what do we know here?
[00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:23.920] Okay, so this viscous fiber moves pretty slowly through your stomach and into your gut, which also means you might not get hungry as fast.
[00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:34.240] So if you're, you eat like a bowl of oatmeal and you don't need to eat for five hours versus like white bread, maybe you'll be hungry again in two hours and you'll have an extra snack.
[00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.840] So it might help control your calories that way.
[00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:38.800] That makes sense.
[00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:45.200] And there's also some evidence that fiber helps with weight loss because of those gut bugs.
[00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:52.880] When they munch up the fiber they love so much, they actually help your body pump out hormones that could help you feel fuller.
[00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:53.760] Oh, cool.
[00:29:53.760 --> 00:29:58.720] But let's look at what happens to people's weight when they actually have more fiber.
[00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:12.200] One study actually had people take this super viscous fiber for a year, and they lost some weight, but it was less than three kilos, about six pounds compared to a control.
[00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:25.080] And in fact, a big meta-analysis looking at more than 60 trials found that people on fiber compared to control diets on average they lost about 0.3 of a kilogram.
[00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:26.600] Oh, so it's not a lot?
[00:30:26.600 --> 00:30:27.560] No, it's not much at all.
[00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:29.400] It's a little less than a pound.
[00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:31.720] Oh, that's so low.
[00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:33.400] That's so low.
[00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:38.600] I guess that classic thing of just eating is complicated.
[00:30:38.600 --> 00:30:47.240] And even if that bowl of oatmeal made you feel more full, it doesn't mean 30 minutes later you're not reaching for the chocolate.
[00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:47.640] Yeah.
[00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.560] I'm speaking for myself personally.
[00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:57.640] Okay, so even though fiber, not particularly good for weight loss, it is good for so many other amazing things.
[00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:05.800] Your heart, your gut, and yet 90% of us aren't getting enough of this.
[00:31:05.800 --> 00:31:09.480] So what does it take to eat enough fiber?
[00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:12.680] Well, Wendy, I had you track your fiber.
[00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:13.560] Yes.
[00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:18.040] Let's look at how you hold up to what you're supposed to be eating.
[00:31:18.040 --> 00:31:19.880] I wondered when that was coming into it.
[00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:20.200] Yes.
[00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:29.880] And let me tell you first: the recommended amounts to eat, it's about 25 grams for women and 30 grams for men.
[00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:30.360] Okay.
[00:31:30.360 --> 00:31:32.680] More or less, depending on your age.
[00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:34.520] If I look at your data.
[00:31:34.520 --> 00:31:36.360] Oh, I'm nervous.
[00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:43.560] There were two days out of 14 that you hit your recommended amount.
[00:31:43.800 --> 00:31:44.800] That's it.
[00:31:45.120 --> 00:31:47.200] But on those days, you did really good.
[00:31:44.120 --> 00:31:50.640] You got over 40 grams of fiber on the days that you fed it.
[00:31:52.320 --> 00:32:02.800] But then on the rest of the days, you were around like 15, 16 grams, which actually is where most of us are eating on average.
[00:32:02.800 --> 00:32:03.120] All right.
[00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:08.640] This is an example of an average person who did not reach their fiber.
[00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:16.480] I guess I'll just go through the stuff that has fiber in it because, like, I ate a lot of, I ate a bagel, I ate an apple scroll, garbage calories, right?
[00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:25.280] I ate half a tomato, two apples, half a carrot, some lettuce, some walnuts.
[00:32:25.280 --> 00:32:26.400] That didn't get me there.
[00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:27.760] And you know, I tracked too.
[00:32:27.760 --> 00:32:29.440] I did not do a very good job.
[00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:33.840] So I know the struggle, especially when things aren't moving along.
[00:32:33.840 --> 00:32:36.080] I talked to Deirdre about this too.
[00:32:36.080 --> 00:32:38.400] It's when I bring out the psyllium husk.
[00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:38.960] Yeah.
[00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:40.480] Oh, goodness me.
[00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.640] But listen, do you really want to have psyllium husk stirred into a glass of water?
[00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.000] It would taste disgusting.
[00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.680] Just eat your friend and vegetables.
[00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:50.480] Just eat a celery with a bit of peanut butter, girl.
[00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:51.920] You'd love that.
[00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:52.560] That's funny.
[00:32:52.560 --> 00:33:00.480] Because, like, looking at that day where I ate a lot of fiber, it was because I ate two cups of frozen peas.
[00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:02.480] This is my ticket, my personal ticket.
[00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.040] Because I don't know, peanut butter just doesn't do it for me.
[00:33:05.040 --> 00:33:10.560] But frozen peas, two cups will get you almost 15 grams.
[00:33:10.560 --> 00:33:11.920] That's like a lot of the way there.
[00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:13.360] That's my ticket to fiber heaven.
[00:33:14.560 --> 00:33:17.520] That's a full, that's a bowl full of peas.
[00:33:17.840 --> 00:33:19.360] But that's a lot of fiber.
[00:33:19.560 --> 00:33:24.400] Now, now that I think about it, the next day, I actually didn't feel great.
[00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:31.160] I um was pretty floaty and my poos were not the sausagey, so I guess you can go overboard.
[00:33:29.760 --> 00:33:34.200] Yeah, that can happen if you eat too much fiber suddenly.
[00:33:34.520 --> 00:33:40.040] It can make you bloated and farty, so you might want to ramp up the peas more slowly.
[00:33:40.040 --> 00:33:43.080] But still, but still, I mean, for the most of the time, I wasn't doing that.
[00:33:43.080 --> 00:33:45.640] Michelle, what was your ticket to Fiber Town?
[00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:50.120] I got 25 grams of fiber from just eating tortilla wraps.
[00:33:50.120 --> 00:33:51.000] No way!
[00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:51.880] So maybe that.
[00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:55.080] Maybe I'll just keep eating burritos all the time.
[00:33:55.080 --> 00:33:55.960] That's awesome.
[00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:58.040] Was it like high fiber wraps?
[00:33:58.040 --> 00:33:59.160] Yeah, they were.
[00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:03.000] But again, it's best to get your fiber from a variety of foods.
[00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:03.800] Yes.
[00:34:03.800 --> 00:34:14.040] Other tickets to high fiber heaven could be stuff like raspberries, whole grain pasta, lentils, beans, chia seeds.
[00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:17.160] And you know, why not throw in some high fiber wraps too?
[00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:18.120] Right.
[00:34:18.120 --> 00:34:18.760] Okay.
[00:34:19.080 --> 00:34:29.320] Well, to high fiber wrap up this episode here, Michelle, here is what I have learned about fiber: it is amazing for your gut.
[00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:40.520] Guess I kind of knew that before, but now I know that if you don't have fiber, your lovely gut bugs will turn on you and start eating you.
[00:34:40.520 --> 00:34:42.200] And that could be bad for your gut.
[00:34:42.200 --> 00:34:42.600] Yeah.
[00:34:42.600 --> 00:34:52.920] Fiber, also amazing for your heart, particularly that viscous, sticky fiber that you get from oatmeal and eggplants and okra.
[00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:53.400] Yeah.
[00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:58.120] Not particularly great for weight loss and depression.
[00:34:58.120 --> 00:34:59.000] Who knows?
[00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:03.960] So, Michelle, you've been just swimming in the world of fiber for ages.
[00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:06.120] How do you think this is going to change your life?
[00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:06.840] This episode.
[00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:09.960] How has science versus changed your life, Michelle?
[00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:13.960] It's making me be more conscious about what foods I'm selecting.
[00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:20.480] And I'm really thinking, oh my gosh, there's all these trillions of microbes in my gut that I need to feed.
[00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:21.840] I'm like, whoa.
[00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:24.400] So yeah, I am going to change how I eat.
[00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:28.080] And, you know, to take it home, here's what Deirdre had to say.
[00:35:28.080 --> 00:35:33.840] Fiber is not a sexy sounding word by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:35.680] But what is sexy?
[00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.560] Sexy is what clever marketing executives put out, right?
[00:35:40.560 --> 00:35:44.160] To promote foods for our big multinational food companies.
[00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:47.120] So to help with sexy, I'm sexy, goddammit.
[00:35:47.120 --> 00:35:49.200] So yeah, I'm going to look after myself.
[00:35:49.200 --> 00:35:52.240] And hence, it means looking after my microbes.
[00:35:52.240 --> 00:35:52.960] And guess what?
[00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:54.720] That's your fiber for you.
[00:35:54.720 --> 00:35:55.760] Happy gut bugs.
[00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:56.640] Happy you.
[00:35:56.640 --> 00:35:58.320] Happy you, indeed, Michelle.
[00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:01.280] And I think on that note, I think that's a wrap.
[00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:03.120] No, sorry, that should be your thing.
[00:36:04.080 --> 00:36:06.800] No, but that's exactly, that is so well put.
[00:36:07.120 --> 00:36:07.680] All right.
[00:36:07.680 --> 00:36:08.880] Well, Deidre said it.
[00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:10.320] That's a wrap.
[00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:13.520] And Michelle, how many citations are in this week's episode?
[00:36:13.520 --> 00:36:16.960] There are 104 citations in this episode.
[00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:18.720] 104 citations.
[00:36:18.720 --> 00:36:25.200] And if people want to read more about fiber and see these citations, where should they go?
[00:36:25.200 --> 00:36:28.640] Please check out our transcript, which you can find in our show notes.
[00:36:28.640 --> 00:36:28.960] Yes.
[00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:43.120] And if you want to see all of the different kinds of foods that you can eat to hit your fiber target and reach high fiber heaven, just go on to our Instagram, science underscore VS, and we've got some diagrams waiting for you.
[00:36:43.120 --> 00:36:50.800] You can also say hello on my TikTok, which is at Wendy Zuckerman, and let me know what you thought of this episode.
[00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:52.160] Thanks so much, Michelle.
[00:36:52.160 --> 00:36:53.360] Thanks, Wendy.
[00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:05.560] This episode was produced by Michelle Dang with help from me, Wendy Zuckerman, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimmler, and Aketty Foster Keys.
[00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:07.080] We're edited by Blythe Terrell.
[00:37:07.240 --> 00:37:09.480] Fact-checking by Erica Akiko-Howard.
[00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:11.560] Mix and sound design by Sam Baer.
[00:37:11.560 --> 00:37:15.160] Music written by Bobby Lorde, Peter Leonard, and Bumi Hidaka.
[00:37:15.160 --> 00:37:17.000] Recording help from Nick Kilvert.
[00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:19.480] And extra thanks to Cafayat Youssef.
[00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:22.920] Plus, thank you to Joseph LaBelle Wilson and the Zuckerman family.
[00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:25.560] Science Basses is a Spotify Studios original.
[00:37:25.560 --> 00:37:29.720] Listen to us for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:37:29.720 --> 00:37:30.920] We are everywhere.
[00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:37.480] But if you are listening on Spotify, follow us and tap the bell icon for more episode notifications.
[00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.280] So you know when new episodes come out, like this one.
[00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:41.560] I'm Wendy Zuckerman.
[00:37:41.560 --> 00:37:42.920] Back to you next time.
[00:37:55.560 --> 00:37:56.440] Mazda?
[00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.960] Once you discover the Mazda CX-5, Mazda?
[00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:01.320] It doesn't take long to get it.
[00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:08.280] With standard all-wheel drive, a premium interior, and advanced safety features, it's an SUV that gives you more at every turn.
[00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:09.720] It will have you sang.
[00:38:09.720 --> 00:38:10.600] Mazda.
[00:38:10.600 --> 00:38:12.360] The Mazda CX-5.
[00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:14.280] It's made to move you.
[00:38:14.280 --> 00:38:20.280] Every Mazda SUV offers you an elevated driving experience and refined performance.
[00:38:20.280 --> 00:38:23.160] Discover it at Mazda White Plains.
[00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:34.360] Después Plato Carlo, Isabel Vosco paque sebia en expedia.
[00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:35.560] Move.
[00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:40.840] Y descubio que recei va van junta subu loyotel podri adaptaros al presu puesto deana.
[00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:42.680] Yello, Miami.
[00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:45.920] Vives para vijajar with amigos.
[00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:53.680] Live to reserve paquetes from the sky.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.400] Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus.
[00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.920] Today, we're pitting facts against fiber.
[00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:21.680] That's right, the world's least sexy nutrient has been getting a glow-up recently.
[00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:32.240] You might think of fiber as something your grandpa kept going on about, but all over TikTok and socials, the sexiest people online are obsessed with it.
[00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:34.000] Fiber, that's the answer.
[00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.680] Fuel your body with fiber.
[00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:37.360] I need to see more fiber and sodium.
[00:00:37.360 --> 00:00:40.560] It'll change the way that you think of food forever.
[00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.880] People say that this one little nutrient packs a huge punch.
[00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:46.800] It'll supercharge your gut.
[00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:51.920] Say goodbye to gut inflammation and hello to the best poos in town.
[00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:53.920] Start eating food that is rich in fiber.
[00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.160] Hey, you'd be dropping logs daily.
[00:00:56.160 --> 00:00:59.120] People are saying it can help you lose a ton of weight.
[00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:02.960] Fiber is literally gonna shrink your waistline.
[00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.640] I've lost weight, my belly fat's gone, my mad boobs are gone.
[00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.080] Apparently, with enough fiber, your depression could be gone too.
[00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:12.240] So you're not eating enough fiber?
[00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:13.920] Your anxiety is gonna skyrocket.
[00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:19.840] I was suffering with depression for over a year, and it was because I had neglected fiber.
[00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:26.480] We're hearing that fiber can even prevent other scary things like heart disease and cancer.
[00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:30.240] Yet, apparently, a ton of us just aren't getting enough of it.
[00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:37.200] According to national surveys, over 90% of folks in the US aren't eating enough fiber every day.
[00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.720] 90%.
[00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:46.080] So, could adding a few scoops of bran to your diet really be the thing to make you a better and brighter you?
[00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:50.800] When it comes to fiber, a lot of us want to be dropping logs daily.
[00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:52.960] But then there's science.
[00:01:54.240 --> 00:01:58.000] Science versus fiber is coming up just after the break.
[00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.760] The toilet break?
[00:02:11.320 --> 00:02:13.800] This episode is brought to you by Indeed.
[00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.600] Taking things slow isn't always a good thing.
[00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:21.160] Sometimes you need to speed things along, like when your toilet breaks down.
[00:02:21.160 --> 00:02:25.160] You got to get that plumber in quickly or you're going to be in trouble.
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[00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.760] That's indeed.com/slash science on.
[00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:50.440] Terms and conditions apply.
[00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:53.240] Hiring, indeed, is all you need.
[00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:56.440] This episode is brought to you by KPMG.
[00:02:56.440 --> 00:03:02.840] Science helps shape how KPMG views transformation, but it's their people who make it real.
[00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:11.560] They help clients visualize data, understand how consumers think, and use AI to craft emotionally resonant experiences.
[00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:19.320] Because while they keep the science of business in mind, it's their people who think differently to solve complex problems.
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[00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:29.160] KPMG, make the difference.
[00:03:36.200 --> 00:03:37.240] Welcome back.
[00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:41.400] Today on the show, we are diving into the world of fiber.
[00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.440] And to help us out, we have producer Michelle Dang.
[00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:45.000] Hi, Wendy.
[00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:47.280] How cool do you think fiber is?
[00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:47.680] I don't know.
[00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:50.080] I'm very impressed by fiber.
[00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.320] Impressed by fiber.
[00:03:52.320 --> 00:03:57.600] Fiber can affect so many different parts of your body that I didn't realize before.
[00:03:57.920 --> 00:03:58.400] Okay.
[00:03:58.400 --> 00:03:58.800] All right.
[00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:00.080] Well, where do we begin?
[00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.680] Okay, Wendy, so the one thing that everybody knows about fiber is.
[00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:05.360] It keeps you regular.
[00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.160] Yes.
[00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:11.520] Which is such a funny euphemism for it makes you do good poos.
[00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.760] Yes, regular good poos.
[00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:17.360] Now, I don't want to stay in poo land for too long, surprisingly for me.
[00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.080] But why exactly does fiber do this?
[00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:20.960] So I talked to Dr.
[00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:27.680] Deirdre Mickelson at the University of Queensland, and she told me what the ideal fibery poo looks like.
[00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:29.040] The sausage.
[00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.440] That's a sausage, indeed.
[00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:32.480] That's a sausage.
[00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:35.520] So you want sausages coming out of your end.
[00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:36.640] Smooth and soft.
[00:04:36.640 --> 00:04:37.360] That's right.
[00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.400] Smooth and soft because, you know, it's just coming out.
[00:04:40.400 --> 00:04:42.560] You're not having to force it.
[00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:48.000] So why does a good sausagey poo have a bunch of fiber in it?
[00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.680] Okay, so fibers are generally these carbs we can't digest.
[00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:56.000] They basically don't get destroyed by the juices that our gut throws at them.
[00:04:56.880 --> 00:05:04.080] And, well, particularly think about the tough part of fruits and veggies, like the skin or even nuts.
[00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:07.840] The fiber in these make it all the way down to your poo pipe.
[00:05:07.840 --> 00:05:09.280] Your lower intestine.
[00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:10.080] Yes.
[00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:13.600] And they end up adding weight and size to your poo.
[00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:24.000] Oh, because if you eat something, I don't know, low in fiber, like white bread or something, a lot of that is just going to get absorbed by your small intestine or whatever.
[00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.720] It's not going to get all the way down to your poo pipe, as you say.
[00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:45.000] Yeah, and here's the other part of it: if you zoom in on a piece of fiber, it kind of looks like a tangled ball of yarn, and in between the strands of it, that piece of fiber can entrap water.
[00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:50.120] This helps you get a nice, moist poo that moves along as well.
[00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:51.640] Oh, that's cool.
[00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:53.080] No dry poos.
[00:05:53.080 --> 00:06:00.760] There's actually a study from the 80s where they tracked how long it took 12 people to poo after eating.
[00:06:00.760 --> 00:06:06.120] And on average, fiber made their poos faster by 24 hours.
[00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:13.000] Wait, so just by eating fiber, stuff moved through their gut faster by 24 hours?
[00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.720] So, you know, it shaved off a whole day.
[00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:18.200] That's impressive.
[00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:19.160] That's impressive.
[00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:20.920] Okay, away from poo now.
[00:06:21.400 --> 00:06:25.160] Can we dive into these bigger claims about the gut?
[00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:33.240] Like, I've heard that eating fiber can reduce the chance of you getting leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer.
[00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:33.960] Yes.
[00:06:33.960 --> 00:06:43.160] To get us into all of those, you and me, we're going to start off by looking at this amazing study that Deirdre did involving pigs.
[00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:43.880] Oh, okay.
[00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:46.520] Wendy, I don't think we do enough pig studies on this show.
[00:06:46.520 --> 00:06:47.320] Okay, okay.
[00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:49.640] Well, let's bring in the pigs.
[00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:56.920] So, several years ago, Deirdre and her team got 40 pigs, and these were chunky white pigs.
[00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:00.360] So, do imagine babe or Wilbur.
[00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:01.000] Okay.
[00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:06.680] And they used these pigs because our guts are actually pretty similar to piggy guts.
[00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.560] So, what happened to these little Wilburs?
[00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:12.600] All these pigs got a fancy meal.
[00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:16.080] We fed pigs steak and this was good steak.
[00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:18.320] This is not some crummy thing.
[00:07:14.840 --> 00:07:20.720] It was barbecued, you know, steak.
[00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.920] So everyone got the steak as part of their diet, but half of them had a bunch more wheat fiber added to their diets too.
[00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:28.320] Okay.
[00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:34.000] And they had to eat like this for a month before it was time to check on their guts.
[00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.680] And well, to do that, these pigs were then sacrificed.
[00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.680] The next step was for Deirdre to take a close look at what's going on in their intestines.
[00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.080] And well, these things are really long.
[00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:56.880] So if you think about your garden hose, your green garden hose and how long that green garden hose was, that is basically what I unraveled.
[00:07:56.880 --> 00:08:02.400] Next, she gently squeezed the semi-digested food out of the intestines.
[00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:07.120] And that made me go off pork for about three months.
[00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.760] I could not eat Japanese curry or any form of curry that'll look yellowish or whatever.
[00:08:11.760 --> 00:08:13.600] Sorry, I know it's a bit gross.
[00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.680] Yeah, it is a bit gross.
[00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:20.080] Here's where Deirdre is ready to do the fun part of the experiment.
[00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:27.200] She took this digested yellowy brown stuff and stuck it under a microscope.
[00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:29.200] So big reveal.
[00:08:29.200 --> 00:08:31.680] Deirdre's a microbiologist.
[00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.760] So she wants to look at what the gut bugs were up to in these pigs.
[00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:38.720] So what was going on with the gut bugs?
[00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.120] What did the fiber do to the gut bugs?
[00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:42.960] Ooh, do you want to see pictures from her study?
[00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:43.360] Yes.
[00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.000] Oh my gosh.
[00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:44.960] Yes, yes, yes.
[00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.120] So this is what she saw under the microscope.
[00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.200] They looked at bits of meat inside the pig guts and bits of fiber.
[00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.640] Okay, what am I looking at?
[00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:55.040] Do you see these little green dots?
[00:08:55.040 --> 00:08:56.480] Yes, yes.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.720] Those are, those are bacteria.
[00:08:58.720 --> 00:08:59.760] Oh, okay.
[00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:03.400] And do you see any green dots on this piece of meat?
[00:09:03.400 --> 00:09:08.440] No, they do not care about that little remnant of steak at all.
[00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:08.840] Yeah.
[00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:11.560] Here's Deirdre.
[00:09:11.560 --> 00:09:19.560] Interestingly, the microbes did not attach to the meat, but they were very much attached to the fiber.
[00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:24.360] You could definitely see the microbes actually sticking to the fiber.
[00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.040] They're having a feast, basically.
[00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:28.120] Absolutely, they're having a feast.
[00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.520] Let me show you the piece of fiber.
[00:09:30.520 --> 00:09:31.800] Oh, whoa!
[00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:34.840] Oh my gosh, they love that fiber!
[00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:36.840] There's so many of them on there, right?
[00:09:37.160 --> 00:09:38.440] So many of them on there.
[00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:39.960] It's like a huge body.
[00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:40.680] I was trying to think.
[00:09:40.680 --> 00:09:43.320] It looked like, this looks like cicadas stuck in a tree.
[00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:47.240] Like, there's so many of them and they're all up in like all the crevices.
[00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:55.640] What does this mean for our health that these gut bugs love fiber and do not like little bits of steak?
[00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:59.640] Yeah, fiber is the main food for these gut bugs.
[00:09:59.640 --> 00:10:04.120] I mean, they'll eat meat if they have to, but it's not what they want.
[00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:08.680] We know that they get more energy from fiber over meat.
[00:10:08.680 --> 00:10:09.160] Oh.
[00:10:09.400 --> 00:10:26.760] And the fact that you're feeding gut bugs with fiber matters a lot because when Deirdre looked at the pigs who got more fiber compared to the ones who didn't, they not only had more good gut bugs, they had this amazing variety of them too, which is super important.
[00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:43.400] What is time and time again coming through in all the studies that are being done, is that a healthy gut microbiome or a healthy gut microbiota is one that is stable, one that is diverse, and one that has got abundance.
[00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:53.760] This is something that I've heard from researchers: if you think about your gut like a rainforest, and a healthy rainforest has lots of different animals, monkeys, cool insects.
[00:10:53.760 --> 00:10:59.600] And that's a healthy rainforest, but an unhealthy rainforest is a monoculture.
[00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:02.000] And that's true with your gut as well.
[00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:19.280] Yeah, and in studies in people, we also know that both eating more fiber and having a more diverse gut bug ecosystem is linked to a lower risk of chronic diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
[00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:20.560] Oh, that's cool.
[00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:27.200] And so, what exactly are these gut bugs doing that's sort of making our gut healthy?
[00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:36.080] Yeah, so there are specific kinds of bacteria that eat fiber and leave behind this chemical called short-chain fatty acids.
[00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:40.080] Oh, so the gut bugs are kind of excreting these chemicals.
[00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:46.320] Yeah, and interestingly, the cells in your large intestine slurp up these acids as energy.
[00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:47.040] Really?
[00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:49.920] Like this stuff that gut bugs are farting out?
[00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:53.520] Owl gut cells actually use that for nutrients?
[00:11:53.520 --> 00:11:55.360] Yes, it's very cool.
[00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:00.240] And now let me tell you what happens if you don't feed your gut bugs.
[00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:01.760] It's not good.
[00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:05.920] And that's where I think people don't realize that they're starving their microbes.
[00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:10.640] They're starving a portion, a very important part of themselves.
[00:12:10.640 --> 00:12:14.960] Yeah, one thing microbes start to do is eat each other.
[00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.520] Dog eat, dog world, if you like.
[00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.680] But that's not all.
[00:12:19.680 --> 00:12:23.600] These hungry gut bugs can go after you, too.
[00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:28.240] They'll also start eating the mucin that lines the gut.
[00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:29.120] Oh.
[00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:45.960] Mucin is kind of like this beautiful snot that lines your gut, and it acts as a wall of defense between all the harmful stuff that's in your intestines, like viruses, bad bacteria, and toxins, and the rest of your body.
[00:12:46.600 --> 00:13:00.680] But if that mucin wall of defense breaks down, those gut cells under the mucin might get damaged, creating little holes in your gut lining that can then let toxins into your blood and cause inflammation.
[00:13:00.680 --> 00:13:08.360] On a very basic level, if you don't eat enough fiber, your gut bugs get hungry.
[00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:18.840] Your once-friendly gut bugs get hungry and they can then start eating this thing that protects your gut lining and so your gut lining starts breaking down.
[00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.080] Yeah, you might have heard it's called leaky gut, and we've seen this happen in mice that don't get any fiber.
[00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:32.760] And so studies have found that people who don't eat enough fiber have holes in their gut.
[00:13:32.760 --> 00:13:42.200] Yeah, we think that's part of the reason why low fiber is linked to some of those bad gut diseases I mentioned, like inflammatory bowel disease.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:45.720] Okay, and then what about cancer?
[00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:51.480] Well, not eating enough fiber can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
[00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:56.680] In fact, Deirdre's colleagues saw the beginning signs of this in some of the pigs.
[00:13:56.680 --> 00:14:05.880] Within a month, without fiber, and if you had that high-protein diet, you were on track to develop colorectal cancer.
[00:14:05.880 --> 00:14:08.120] And that was frightening.
[00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:10.840] What did they say?
[00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:16.800] That the pigs who got less fiber actually had worse DNA damage in their gut cells.
[00:14:16.800 --> 00:14:18.240] And why is that?
[00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.000] Well, one reason is because fiber helps keep your gut cells happy, right?
[00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:22.240] Right.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:22.320] Right.
[00:14:22.560 --> 00:14:23.680] And happy and healthy.
[00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:24.320] Yes.
[00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:31.760] But also, if you have a diet that's high in red meat, we know that can produce carcinogens in your gut.
[00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:43.600] And if you're not eating fiber and not pooing regularly, that means those toxins stay in the gut for longer, giving them more time to damage the DNA in gut cells.
[00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:44.960] Oh, yeah.
[00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:46.880] Here's Deirdre on that.
[00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.880] You can just see the effect starkly within a month.
[00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:54.640] Like that was what was so shocking.
[00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:07.360] In one review, people who ate the most fiber compared to people who ate the least fiber had a lower risk of colorectal cancer by something like a third.
[00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:12.320] All right, Michelle, I am convinced that fiber is very important for my gut.
[00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:16.560] Reduces my risk of colon cancer and all those yucky gut diseases.
[00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:17.680] That is all amazing.
[00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:18.800] And it helps you poo.
[00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:20.800] And it helps me poo.
[00:15:20.800 --> 00:15:22.640] Something I love as well.
[00:15:22.640 --> 00:15:28.800] All right, next up, can we look at these claims around fiber and depression?
[00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:33.440] That eating fiber can help with your mental health.
[00:15:34.400 --> 00:15:38.400] Okay, so we do know the brain and the gut talk to each other in different ways.
[00:15:38.400 --> 00:15:41.680] Like there's a big nerve that connects the gut and the brain.
[00:15:42.400 --> 00:15:51.200] And we're getting more and more evidence suggesting that our gut microbes could be pumping out stuff like neurotransmitters that can chat with our brain.
[00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:56.880] Here's John Crine, a neuroscientist from University College Cork in Ireland.
[00:15:56.880 --> 00:16:01.480] So, our gut talks to our brain, but our brain talks to our gut.
[00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.240] Two ways, three.
[00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:17.240] And when it comes to why fiber in particular might help your brain, do you remember how when you eat fiber, certain gut bugs will eat that up and make those short-chain fatty acids?
[00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:17.720] Yes.
[00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:26.120] Well, we think that those can travel through our blood to the brain and possibly help how neurons communicate with each other.
[00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:27.000] Oh.
[00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:35.480] So recently, John took fresh brain slices from mice and doused them with those chemicals that microbes make.
[00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:45.640] And what he saw was that these chemicals could affect synaptic plasticity, which is how neurons can change their connections between each other.
[00:16:45.640 --> 00:16:48.440] That's what helps us make memories and learn stuff.
[00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.440] And John says it also might be helpful in treating depression.
[00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:59.960] So here's how John thinks about fiber: I think it is the fuel for your microbe factory.
[00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:03.640] It is fuel and it's fuel for your brain.
[00:17:03.640 --> 00:17:08.120] So have there been any studies in people to really test this out?
[00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:12.040] This idea that fiber can reduce depression?
[00:17:12.040 --> 00:17:20.360] Okay, so there are studies that have asked thousands of people about how much fiber they eat and separately what their mental health is like.
[00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:25.720] And they generally do find a link between low fiber and depression and anxiety.
[00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:26.600] That's interesting.
[00:17:26.600 --> 00:17:29.400] Studies like this led to a lot of exciting headlines.
[00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:30.360] I'm sure.
[00:17:30.360 --> 00:17:34.880] Quote, the key to reducing your depression risk could be fiber, study says.
[00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:35.720] End quote.
[00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:46.320] I guess with those studies, though, it is impossible to know if it was the fiber that caused the boost in mental health, right?
[00:17:46.320 --> 00:17:53.040] Because, like, fiber, eating a lot of fiber generally comes with a generally more healthy diet of eating fruits and vegetables.
[00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.480] There's lots of reasons why, if you already have depression, you might not be eating a healthy diet.
[00:17:58.480 --> 00:17:58.880] Yes.
[00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:07.200] It's hard to know in those types of studies if it's really fiber making a difference here versus other stuff going on in their lives.
[00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:08.000] Exactly.
[00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:26.560] And so, to get to causation, we need our favorite randomized controlled trials where researchers randomly assign people to take a pill filled with fiber and see if it improves their mental health compared to a control that gets a placebo.
[00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:26.960] Great.
[00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.200] Okay.
[00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:27.440] Okay.
[00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:28.800] So, what do these studies find?
[00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:36.720] In this big meta-analysis that John was a part of, they looked at 10 of these studies and only two found it worked.
[00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.640] The rest of the eight studies didn't.
[00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:39.440] Oh.
[00:18:39.760 --> 00:18:40.400] Yeah.
[00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:50.400] In the results of the meta-analysis, they said, quote, no difference was found between fiber supplementation and placebo for depressive or anxiety outcomes.
[00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:51.120] Yeah.
[00:18:51.760 --> 00:18:52.640] Disappointing, though.
[00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:55.760] Would it be nice if fiber was the key to your mental health?
[00:18:55.760 --> 00:18:57.600] I asked John about it.
[00:18:57.600 --> 00:19:03.040] The bottom line for depression is that, like, right now, the evidence for fiber isn't there.
[00:19:03.040 --> 00:19:04.320] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:04.720] Okay.
[00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.400] But that doesn't mean it won't work.
[00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:07.200] Wait.
[00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:08.800] Why is he saying that?
[00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:14.000] I mean, one reason is that these studies kind of reduce fiber down to a pill.
[00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:23.120] Whereas some researchers say that eating fiber from a bunch of different foods is what will make gut bugs happier.
[00:19:23.280 --> 00:19:23.840] Okay.
[00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:32.600] Maybe we need to be doing these studies where we're telling people to eat a big fiber-filled diet instead of just taking a small supplement.
[00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.840] After the break, weight loss.
[00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:38.840] Can fiber help you shed those pounds?
[00:19:38.840 --> 00:19:42.680] Plus, how fiber might even save your life?
[00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:43.880] Coming up.
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[00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:50.400] Welcome back.
[00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.560] Today on the show, we are talking about the wonders of fiber.
[00:22:54.560 --> 00:23:02.360] You thought it was just your grandpa's cereal, but in fact, the fiber's getting a glow up.
[00:23:02.360 --> 00:23:03.560] We're giving it a glow up.
[00:23:03.560 --> 00:23:05.960] We're here with producer Michelle Dang.
[00:22:59.600 --> 00:23:08.200] And now, what do you next?
[00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.080] We are going to the heart.
[00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:15.080] We think fiber might actually be a lifesaver here.
[00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:15.800] Interesting.
[00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:17.320] How does this work?
[00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:22.200] Yeah, so we've kind of been talking about fiber as one thing.
[00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.720] It actually breaks down into a couple different types.
[00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.800] So there's soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.
[00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:35.160] And within the soluble type, you've got stuff that turns into kind of a gel.
[00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:38.600] Sticky, we call it sticky fiber sometimes, the viscous fiber.
[00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:39.960] This is Andrea Glenn.
[00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.400] She's a nutrition scientist at New York University.
[00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:48.360] And I asked Andrea about where we find viscous fiber in the first place.
[00:23:48.360 --> 00:23:53.400] You think of like oatmeal, like if you're playing with cooked oatmeal, it's gonna stick to your hands.
[00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:55.400] And that's the viscous fiber.
[00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:57.640] Have you ever eaten okra before?
[00:23:57.640 --> 00:23:58.840] And it's kind of jelly.
[00:23:59.000 --> 00:23:59.560] Slimy.
[00:23:59.560 --> 00:23:59.720] Yeah.
[00:24:00.760 --> 00:24:03.080] Yeah, so that's also viscous fiber.
[00:24:03.080 --> 00:24:09.400] So yeah, it's in a bunch of stuff, like fruit, eggplant, mushrooms, beans, for example.
[00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:15.800] And when it continues to mix with water in your stomach, the gel gets even thicker.
[00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:19.480] And so then how is that good for your heart?
[00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:20.760] Well, it starts here.
[00:24:20.760 --> 00:24:31.400] So a big reason that people develop heart disease is because eating sugar and fun stuff like muffins, candy can give you high blood sugar spikes.
[00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:31.960] Right.
[00:24:32.280 --> 00:24:42.120] And if that happens over and over again, you can get insulin resistance, which can then lead to diabetes or even heart disease.
[00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:48.160] And what's super cool is that sticky fiber can help stop those high sugar spikes.
[00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:48.960] How?
[00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:54.160] Because when you eat food, that becomes that thick, gooey stuff.
[00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.600] What that does is it slows down digestion.
[00:24:57.600 --> 00:25:00.320] So it stays in your stomach longer.
[00:25:00.320 --> 00:25:04.080] You know, because it's like physically sticky and heavy.
[00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:18.160] In one study, they fed people five grams of gorgum, a viscous fiber, with a meal and found that it slowed down food going from the stomach to the small intestine by nearly two hours.
[00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.720] But didn't it make us poo faster?
[00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.800] Now it's making us poo slower.
[00:25:22.800 --> 00:25:28.400] Is this because it makes us poo faster once the food gets into the large intestine?
[00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:33.120] But now all this fun action is happening higher up in the gut?
[00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:34.160] Yeah, exactly.
[00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:39.680] It's specifically slowing down the emptying of your stomach into your small intestine.
[00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:45.360] And this is important because your small intestine is where sugars get sucked up into your blood.
[00:25:45.360 --> 00:25:46.240] Oh.
[00:25:46.560 --> 00:26:02.320] And not only does it slow down food, this goopy, sticky gel is also coating up all the foods that you've eaten with it, creating this barrier around it and making it harder for little digestive enzymes to reach the sugars you've eaten.
[00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:05.040] So it means less sugar gets into your blood?
[00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:11.200] Not that, but it does mean that sugar gets into your blood slower.
[00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.360] Oh, because it's protected by this goop.
[00:26:15.360 --> 00:26:15.760] Right.
[00:26:15.760 --> 00:26:24.320] It makes it harder for your gut to slurp out sugars from the food you've eaten and suck it up into your blood.
[00:26:24.320 --> 00:26:28.080] So your blood sugar goes up slower and then it goes down slower as well.
[00:26:28.080 --> 00:26:32.840] So if we ate an apple with a gummy bear, what would happen then?
[00:26:32.840 --> 00:26:36.040] Yeah, it would be better than just the gummy bear on its own.
[00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.240] Does it cancel out where the sugar?
[00:26:39.800 --> 00:26:41.400] No, definitely not.
[00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:42.040] Okay.
[00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:44.360] If only.
[00:26:44.360 --> 00:26:48.840] Oh, but it actually does help a little because it slows down the sugar spikes, right?
[00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:49.480] Yeah.
[00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:55.880] And then I also want to tell you quickly about cholesterol because fiber helps with that too.
[00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:56.520] Huh.
[00:26:56.520 --> 00:26:57.400] Right.
[00:26:57.400 --> 00:26:59.640] Okay, so it's a very weird journey.
[00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:00.760] Mm-hmm.
[00:27:02.360 --> 00:27:10.840] So the sticky fiber comes along and traps these things called bile acids in our guts, which are there to help us digest food.
[00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:16.680] But this means that your body needs to make more and more bile acids.
[00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:22.200] And what's important for our story here is that bile acids are made up of cholesterol.
[00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.320] Oh.
[00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:39.560] Yeah, so because the sticky fiber is trapping your bile acids, basically taking them out of commission, your body has to make more and more and more bile acids, which means it's sucking up more and more cholesterol from your blood.
[00:27:39.560 --> 00:27:43.080] And that is how eating fiber reduces cholesterol?
[00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:43.400] Yes.
[00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:45.000] It's very tricky, right?
[00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:46.440] It's like, what?
[00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.160] That is very surprising.
[00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:56.520] So does eating this viscous sticky fiber have a measurable effect on the risk of heart disease?
[00:27:56.520 --> 00:28:02.520] Yeah, so recently Andrea did a study to find out like what are the long-term effects here?
[00:28:02.520 --> 00:28:03.080] Yeah.
[00:28:03.080 --> 00:28:09.960] And she used data of more than 200,000 people that had been tracked for about 30 years.
[00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:20.240] And what they found was that people who eat a fiber-packed diet had a 14% lower risk of total cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease.
[00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:23.680] So that includes things like heart attacks and then stroke as well.
[00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.800] That might not all be because of the fiber, though, right?
[00:28:26.800 --> 00:28:33.120] Because, like we've mentioned, if you're eating a healthy diet, you might also be doing things like more exercise or other stuff.
[00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:33.840] That's true.
[00:28:33.840 --> 00:28:34.480] That's true.
[00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:36.160] But Andrea thinks it's real.
[00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:42.080] Yeah, and Andrea could see in the data that the more viscous fiber people ate, the better it was.
[00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:42.880] Cool.
[00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.280] Actually, there's a bunch of studies that have found this over and over again.
[00:28:47.280 --> 00:28:59.120] There's even one meta-analysis that found that for every 10 grams of fiber people ate a day, it brought down their general risk of dying by 10%.
[00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.200] So that's pretty surprising.
[00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:02.960] Fiber, huh?
[00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:04.800] Can help you live longer.
[00:29:04.800 --> 00:29:05.360] All right.
[00:29:05.360 --> 00:29:12.640] So if that wasn't a reason enough to eat fiber, the last thing we're going to look at is this claim around weight loss.
[00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.400] So what do we know here?
[00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:23.920] Okay, so this viscous fiber moves pretty slowly through your stomach and into your gut, which also means you might not get hungry as fast.
[00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:34.240] So if you're, you eat like a bowl of oatmeal and you don't need to eat for five hours versus like white bread, maybe you'll be hungry again in two hours and you'll have an extra snack.
[00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.840] So it might help control your calories that way.
[00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:38.800] That makes sense.
[00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:45.200] And there's also some evidence that fiber helps with weight loss because of those gut bugs.
[00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:52.880] When they munch up the fiber they love so much, they actually help your body pump out hormones that could help you feel fuller.
[00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:53.760] Oh, cool.
[00:29:53.760 --> 00:29:58.720] But let's look at what happens to people's weight when they actually have more fiber.
[00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:12.200] One study actually had people take this super viscous fiber for a year, and they lost some weight, but it was less than three kilos, about six pounds compared to a control.
[00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:25.080] And in fact, a big meta-analysis looking at more than 60 trials found that people on fiber compared to control diets on average they lost about 0.3 of a kilogram.
[00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:26.600] Oh, so it's not a lot?
[00:30:26.600 --> 00:30:27.560] No, it's not much at all.
[00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:29.400] It's a little less than a pound.
[00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:31.720] Oh, that's so low.
[00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:33.400] That's so low.
[00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:38.600] I guess that classic thing of just eating is complicated.
[00:30:38.600 --> 00:30:47.240] And even if that bowl of oatmeal made you feel more full, it doesn't mean 30 minutes later you're not reaching for the chocolate.
[00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:47.640] Yeah.
[00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.560] I'm speaking for myself personally.
[00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:57.640] Okay, so even though fiber, not particularly good for weight loss, it is good for so many other amazing things.
[00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:05.800] Your heart, your gut, and yet 90% of us aren't getting enough of this.
[00:31:05.800 --> 00:31:09.480] So what does it take to eat enough fiber?
[00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:12.680] Well, Wendy, I had you track your fiber.
[00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:13.560] Yes.
[00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:18.040] Let's look at how you hold up to what you're supposed to be eating.
[00:31:18.040 --> 00:31:19.880] I wondered when that was coming into it.
[00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:20.200] Yes.
[00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:29.880] And let me tell you first: the recommended amounts to eat, it's about 25 grams for women and 30 grams for men.
[00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:30.360] Okay.
[00:31:30.360 --> 00:31:32.680] More or less, depending on your age.
[00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:34.520] If I look at your data.
[00:31:34.520 --> 00:31:36.360] Oh, I'm nervous.
[00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:43.560] There were two days out of 14 that you hit your recommended amount.
[00:31:43.800 --> 00:31:44.800] That's it.
[00:31:45.120 --> 00:31:47.200] But on those days, you did really good.
[00:31:44.120 --> 00:31:50.640] You got over 40 grams of fiber on the days that you fed it.
[00:31:52.320 --> 00:32:02.800] But then on the rest of the days, you were around like 15, 16 grams, which actually is where most of us are eating on average.
[00:32:02.800 --> 00:32:03.120] All right.
[00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:08.640] This is an example of an average person who did not reach their fiber.
[00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:16.480] I guess I'll just go through the stuff that has fiber in it because, like, I ate a lot of, I ate a bagel, I ate an apple scroll, garbage calories, right?
[00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:25.280] I ate half a tomato, two apples, half a carrot, some lettuce, some walnuts.
[00:32:25.280 --> 00:32:26.400] That didn't get me there.
[00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:27.760] And you know, I tracked too.
[00:32:27.760 --> 00:32:29.440] I did not do a very good job.
[00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:33.840] So I know the struggle, especially when things aren't moving along.
[00:32:33.840 --> 00:32:36.080] I talked to Deirdre about this too.
[00:32:36.080 --> 00:32:38.400] It's when I bring out the psyllium husk.
[00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:38.960] Yeah.
[00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:40.480] Oh, goodness me.
[00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.640] But listen, do you really want to have psyllium husk stirred into a glass of water?
[00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.000] It would taste disgusting.
[00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.680] Just eat your friend and vegetables.
[00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:50.480] Just eat a celery with a bit of peanut butter, girl.
[00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:51.920] You'd love that.
[00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:52.560] That's funny.
[00:32:52.560 --> 00:33:00.480] Because, like, looking at that day where I ate a lot of fiber, it was because I ate two cups of frozen peas.
[00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:02.480] This is my ticket, my personal ticket.
[00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.040] Because I don't know, peanut butter just doesn't do it for me.
[00:33:05.040 --> 00:33:10.560] But frozen peas, two cups will get you almost 15 grams.
[00:33:10.560 --> 00:33:11.920] That's like a lot of the way there.
[00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:13.360] That's my ticket to fiber heaven.
[00:33:14.560 --> 00:33:17.520] That's a full, that's a bowl full of peas.
[00:33:17.840 --> 00:33:19.360] But that's a lot of fiber.
[00:33:19.560 --> 00:33:24.400] Now, now that I think about it, the next day, I actually didn't feel great.
[00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:31.160] I um was pretty floaty and my poos were not the sausagey, so I guess you can go overboard.
[00:33:29.760 --> 00:33:34.200] Yeah, that can happen if you eat too much fiber suddenly.
[00:33:34.520 --> 00:33:40.040] It can make you bloated and farty, so you might want to ramp up the peas more slowly.
[00:33:40.040 --> 00:33:43.080] But still, but still, I mean, for the most of the time, I wasn't doing that.
[00:33:43.080 --> 00:33:45.640] Michelle, what was your ticket to Fiber Town?
[00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:50.120] I got 25 grams of fiber from just eating tortilla wraps.
[00:33:50.120 --> 00:33:51.000] No way!
[00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:51.880] So maybe that.
[00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:55.080] Maybe I'll just keep eating burritos all the time.
[00:33:55.080 --> 00:33:55.960] That's awesome.
[00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:58.040] Was it like high fiber wraps?
[00:33:58.040 --> 00:33:59.160] Yeah, they were.
[00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:03.000] But again, it's best to get your fiber from a variety of foods.
[00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:03.800] Yes.
[00:34:03.800 --> 00:34:14.040] Other tickets to high fiber heaven could be stuff like raspberries, whole grain pasta, lentils, beans, chia seeds.
[00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:17.160] And you know, why not throw in some high fiber wraps too?
[00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:18.120] Right.
[00:34:18.120 --> 00:34:18.760] Okay.
[00:34:19.080 --> 00:34:29.320] Well, to high fiber wrap up this episode here, Michelle, here is what I have learned about fiber: it is amazing for your gut.
[00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:40.520] Guess I kind of knew that before, but now I know that if you don't have fiber, your lovely gut bugs will turn on you and start eating you.
[00:34:40.520 --> 00:34:42.200] And that could be bad for your gut.
[00:34:42.200 --> 00:34:42.600] Yeah.
[00:34:42.600 --> 00:34:52.920] Fiber, also amazing for your heart, particularly that viscous, sticky fiber that you get from oatmeal and eggplants and okra.
[00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:53.400] Yeah.
[00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:58.120] Not particularly great for weight loss and depression.
[00:34:58.120 --> 00:34:59.000] Who knows?
[00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:03.960] So, Michelle, you've been just swimming in the world of fiber for ages.
[00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:06.120] How do you think this is going to change your life?
[00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:06.840] This episode.
[00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:09.960] How has science versus changed your life, Michelle?
[00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:13.960] It's making me be more conscious about what foods I'm selecting.
[00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:20.480] And I'm really thinking, oh my gosh, there's all these trillions of microbes in my gut that I need to feed.
[00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:21.840] I'm like, whoa.
[00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:24.400] So yeah, I am going to change how I eat.
[00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:28.080] And, you know, to take it home, here's what Deirdre had to say.
[00:35:28.080 --> 00:35:33.840] Fiber is not a sexy sounding word by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:35.680] But what is sexy?
[00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.560] Sexy is what clever marketing executives put out, right?
[00:35:40.560 --> 00:35:44.160] To promote foods for our big multinational food companies.
[00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:47.120] So to help with sexy, I'm sexy, goddammit.
[00:35:47.120 --> 00:35:49.200] So yeah, I'm going to look after myself.
[00:35:49.200 --> 00:35:52.240] And hence, it means looking after my microbes.
[00:35:52.240 --> 00:35:52.960] And guess what?
[00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:54.720] That's your fiber for you.
[00:35:54.720 --> 00:35:55.760] Happy gut bugs.
[00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:56.640] Happy you.
[00:35:56.640 --> 00:35:58.320] Happy you, indeed, Michelle.
[00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:01.280] And I think on that note, I think that's a wrap.
[00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:03.120] No, sorry, that should be your thing.
[00:36:04.080 --> 00:36:06.800] No, but that's exactly, that is so well put.
[00:36:07.120 --> 00:36:07.680] All right.
[00:36:07.680 --> 00:36:08.880] Well, Deidre said it.
[00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:10.320] That's a wrap.
[00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:13.520] And Michelle, how many citations are in this week's episode?
[00:36:13.520 --> 00:36:16.960] There are 104 citations in this episode.
[00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:18.720] 104 citations.
[00:36:18.720 --> 00:36:25.200] And if people want to read more about fiber and see these citations, where should they go?
[00:36:25.200 --> 00:36:28.640] Please check out our transcript, which you can find in our show notes.
[00:36:28.640 --> 00:36:28.960] Yes.
[00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:43.120] And if you want to see all of the different kinds of foods that you can eat to hit your fiber target and reach high fiber heaven, just go on to our Instagram, science underscore VS, and we've got some diagrams waiting for you.
[00:36:43.120 --> 00:36:50.800] You can also say hello on my TikTok, which is at Wendy Zuckerman, and let me know what you thought of this episode.
[00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:52.160] Thanks so much, Michelle.
[00:36:52.160 --> 00:36:53.360] Thanks, Wendy.
[00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:05.560] This episode was produced by Michelle Dang with help from me, Wendy Zuckerman, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimmler, and Aketty Foster Keys.
[00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:07.080] We're edited by Blythe Terrell.
[00:37:07.240 --> 00:37:09.480] Fact-checking by Erica Akiko-Howard.
[00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:11.560] Mix and sound design by Sam Baer.
[00:37:11.560 --> 00:37:15.160] Music written by Bobby Lorde, Peter Leonard, and Bumi Hidaka.
[00:37:15.160 --> 00:37:17.000] Recording help from Nick Kilvert.
[00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:19.480] And extra thanks to Cafayat Youssef.
[00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:22.920] Plus, thank you to Joseph LaBelle Wilson and the Zuckerman family.
[00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:25.560] Science Basses is a Spotify Studios original.
[00:37:25.560 --> 00:37:29.720] Listen to us for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:37:29.720 --> 00:37:30.920] We are everywhere.
[00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:37.480] But if you are listening on Spotify, follow us and tap the bell icon for more episode notifications.
[00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.280] So you know when new episodes come out, like this one.
[00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:41.560] I'm Wendy Zuckerman.
[00:37:41.560 --> 00:37:42.920] Back to you next time.
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