Hormonal
Dietary fiber fermentation by gut microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that exert anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects via HDAC inhibition and GPR43 activation, yet high-dose fiber interventions face significant gastrointestinal side effects and variable efficacy in preventing colorectal cancer.
Eating more fiber helps your gut bacteria produce beneficial compounds (SCFAs) that reduce inflammation and may protect against colon cancer. However, simply eating a lot of fiber doesn't always prevent polyps and can cause uncomfortable bloating and gas. To get the benefits without the side effects, focus on gradual increases in fiber or explore strategies that optimize bacterial strains to produce SCFAs with less gas production.
These various actions of SCFAs allow them to exert pluripotent effects that generally promote intestinal health, reduce inflammation and inhibit cancer... However, large randomized multicenter clinical trials... showed no impact of a high-fiber diet on recurring polyp formation... For a significant fraction of the human population, consumption of large amounts of non-digestible dietary fibers such as inulin is significantly hampered by undesirable gastrointestinal effects such as bloating, abdominal cramping, flatulence and diarrhea.
Why this rating
The paper is a review summarizing multiple studies, including conflicting clinical trial results (Polyp Prevention Trial vs. animal models), indicating mixed evidence quality.
Source
Microbial metabolism of dietary components to bioactive metabolites: opportunities for new therapeutic interventions
Linda Zhang et al. · Genome Medicine · 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13073-016-0296-x
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