A wood-based fibre to replace fat in diet: Do we need it at all?

This one takes the cake. No, I mean ‘wood’.

Yes, really!

A new ingredient made from wood is being touted as the next big high-fibre ingredient.

A company in Norway has come up with a rather imaginative way to incorporate wood into the diet.

They have created an edible powder (a form of food-grade cellulose) by processing wood, which apparently due to its high water holding capacity helps in creating a creamy effect (like fat), besides having a mouthfeel like fat too.

It is now being considered as an additive to foods like sausages, mayonnaise, cakes, ice cream, frozen desserts, protein drinks, cakes, biscuits, pies and ready to eat meals — to make them lower in fat and calories, and to boost the fibre intake.

Ingenious no doubt, but not necessary. I feel so.

Fibre is the most underrated ingredient around. Agreed. In fact, most people consider it just a bulk-adding part of food, whereas the truth is fibre is our best friend. We just can’t ignore it.

Why?

Because, it equals satiety — keeps our stomach full for long on lesser calories and helps keep hunger in check.

It also slows digestion (forms a gel-like combination along with water in the stomach, which slackens the rate at which foods are emptied from the abdomen), and when you slow digestion, you slow the delivery of glucose (blood sugar) to the bloodstream. This way, less insulin is released, and that helps lower the fat storage rate, particularly in the belly (which directly translates to slimmer waists).

It is important here to understand that insulin spike tells our body to start storing fat and the spike is invariably followed by a drop that leaves us feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more and fibre in the diet helps avoid this vicious cycle.

But that said, the only idea that stands merit for me — and logically too — is that most of us as it is rarely eat enough fruits and veggies and legumes and grain (all high-fibre foods).

So, it is risky to make fibre convenient to get via processed foods. This will further decrease the consumption of whole, nutrient-dense foods that are good for us in totality, and increase consumption of processed (nutrient-poor but high fibre, low fat) products. More processed foods in our diet is always bad news.

My take: A fibre ingredient like this looks good only on paper. But it will only push us further down the path of convenience eating, a habit that is ruining our health and pushing us toward the conundrum of obesity co-existing with undernourishment.

So how does one have more fibre?

The easiest and the most practical way is to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Fix time slots to consume fruits. Like, say an apple after breakfast, and a plateful of papaya in the evening or a couple of oranges, and a plateful of sautéed vegetables with dinner.

Another really good trick is to grind flaxseed, and few more seeds (like sunflower, sesame or pumpkin seeds) and almonds in a grinder to produce a fine powder, and eat 2 tablespoons of this powder daily. You can even add seeds to your cereal, soups, yoghurt to feel fuller.

Also incorporate lentils, whole grain cereals (brown rice, whole bread, oats, barley etc) and beans consciously in your diet.

One important advice I’d like to give here is to definitely eat some fibre in the mornings – breakfast – as that helps avoid the hunger pangs in late afternoon.

But make sure you down enough fluid through the day too, to ensure that fibre works efficiently in the body.

Also read: 9 age-old infused water remedies to drown your health concerns