Psyllium Husk Benefits | Are You Getting Enough Fiber? — Transcript

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1. 0:00Should we use psyllium husk to boost our
2. 0:02fiber intake? Well, in 2014, a
3. 0:0532-year-old woman had a severe infection
4. 0:07in her gut from a bacteria called
5. 0:09claustrdium deficile that caused
6. 0:12diarrhea and crippling abdominal pain
7. 0:14for 2 to 3 months. Different courses of
8. 0:16antibiotics were tried, but when none
9. 0:18worked, she elected to undergo a fecal
10. 0:21transplant. As per the woman's request,
11. 0:24her 16-year-old daughter, who was
12. 0:25struggling with her own obesity issues,
13. 0:28was chosen as the stool donor. After the
14. 0:30transplant, the patients diarrhea and
15. 0:32abdominal pain improved, but she
16. 0:34presented again 16 months later with
17. 0:37unintentional weight gain and obesity.
18. 0:40This was despite a medically supervised
19. 0:42liquid protein diet and exercise
20. 0:44program. So, did this woman become obese
21. 0:46because of her daughter's bacteria that
22. 0:48now lived within her own gut? So in this
23. 0:51video, we'll go through the importance
24. 0:53of the bacteria that live within our
25. 0:55bodies and we'll specifically look at
26. 0:57how we can nurture it using fibers such
27. 0:59as psyllium husk. So let's get into it.
28. 1:01So when we think of bacteria, we usually
29. 1:04think of life-threatening bacterial
30. 1:06infections such as pneumonia, sepsis,
31. 1:09not good things. But not all bacteria is
32. 1:11bad. For every one human cell, there's
33. 1:14one bacterial cell. So quite literally
34. 1:17half of you and I, we're made up of
35. 1:19bacteria. And collectively that
36. 1:22bacteria, it's known as the human
37. 1:24microbiome. And the colon or the gut is
38. 1:27the organ that harbors the densest
39. 1:29number of these bacterial cells. And in
40. 1:32the diet, exercise, or supplement world,
41. 1:34it's these bacterial cells that are
42. 1:36often overlooked. And until recent
43. 1:38decades, properties of the microbiome
44. 1:41and the interaction that the microbiome
45. 1:43has with our own cells have been largely
46. 1:46unknown due to technology limitations.
47. 1:48And right now, there are large scale
48. 1:50projects such as the human microbiome
49. 1:52project to figure out exactly how the
50. 1:55microbiome works and all of the
51. 1:56interactions that it has with our immune
52. 1:59system, with our brains, with our
53. 2:00hormone levels. Because this symbiotic
54. 2:03relationship between the gut microbiome
55. 2:05and the host, it's regulated and tightly
56. 2:08controlled with a complex network of
57. 2:10interactions that encompasses metabolic,
58. 2:13immune, and neuroindocrine cross talk
59. 2:15between them. And it's because of these
60. 2:17complex networks that the microbiome,
61. 2:19it's been linked with obesity with other
62. 2:22health problems. So when that
63. 2:2332-year-old woman got the bacteria from
64. 2:26her overweight daughter and transplanted
65. 2:28that bacteria into her gut, potentially
66. 2:31there was some complex interaction that
67. 2:33was happening that was causing her to
68. 2:35become obese, to become overweight. So
69. 2:38let's have a closer look and see what
70. 2:40was going on. So within our bodies,
71. 2:42there's a hormone called leptin. And
72. 2:44leptin, it signals to our bodies that
73. 2:46we're full, that we don't want any more
74. 2:48food. And a lot of the leptin in our
75. 2:50bodies, it's produced by the bacteria in
76. 2:53our gut. So, if the bacteria in our gut
77. 2:55aren't producing leptin, we're going to
78. 2:57be eating more because we're hungrier.
79. 2:59We're fighting a losing battle. Luckily,
80. 3:02though, there is light at the end of the
81. 3:04tunnel. We can fix this problem with
82. 3:06fiber. So, dietary fiber is neither
83. 3:09digested nor absorbed in the small
84. 3:11intestine. So, think of fiber as the
85. 3:13food source for our bacteria. So if the
86. 3:16bacteria are full, they produce leptin.
87. 3:19They tell our bodies, you know what,
88. 3:20I've got all of the food that I want.
89. 3:22Don't eat anymore. So they produce
90. 3:24leptin and tell our bodies to stop. The
91. 3:27trouble is though, in the classic
92. 3:29western diet, a lot of the foods that we
93. 3:31eat, they're refined. They've got the
94. 3:33fiber taken away. So if we're not
95. 3:35feeding the gut bacteria with fiber, it
96. 3:38signals to our bodies that they're
97. 3:39hungry, that they want more food. So
98. 3:42this low intake of dietary fibers, it
99. 3:44may at least in part contribute to a
100. 3:46depletion of specific bacterial species.
101. 3:50These alterations may result in
102. 3:51dysfunctions contributing to the
103. 3:53increase in development of chronic
104. 3:55inflammatory diseases such as intestinal
105. 3:58bowel disease, colurectal cancer,
106. 4:00allergies, autoimmune diseases, obesity
107. 4:02and its associated pathologies. Now
108. 4:05classically fiber was divided into
109. 4:07soluble and insoluble forms with the
110. 4:10insoluble forms contributing to a fecal
111. 4:12bulking effect. Whereas the soluble
112. 4:14fibers they don't contribute to fecal
113. 4:16bulking but they're fermented they're
114. 4:18digested by the gut bacteria and give
115. 4:21rise to metabolites such as short-chain
116. 4:23fatty acids. And it's these fatty acids
117. 4:26such as acetate and butyrate that have
118. 4:28such complex interactions with our
119. 4:31bodies producing all of those hormone
120. 4:33reactions such as leptin. So overall,
121. 4:36it's the fiber that feeds our bacteria
122. 4:38and make sure that those complex
123. 4:40reactions that happen between the
124. 4:42bacteria and our bodies happen
125. 4:44correctly. And we can get all of the
126. 4:46fiber that we need from our diet from
127. 4:48fruits, vegetables, whole grains. But
128. 4:51there is a potential problem with eating
129. 4:53too much fruits and whole grains.
130. 4:54They've got a lot of carbohydrates. And
131. 4:57if you've seen my videos about the keto
132. 4:59diet, overall there is some research to
133. 5:01suggest that a lower carbohydrate diet
134. 5:04is beneficial for us in the long term.
135. 5:07So yes, with the keto diet, you can get
136. 5:09a lot of fiber from vegetables. But what
137. 5:12about if we go one step further? And
138. 5:14this is where psyllium husk comes into
139. 5:16it. So psyllium husk, it's still keto
140. 5:19friendly. It's got a very low calorie
141. 5:21intake, but it's packed with fiber. So,
142. 5:24psyllium husk, it's derived from seeds
143. 5:27and it can be considered to have
144. 5:28prebiotic potential. So, what we mean by
145. 5:31this is that it promotes bacterial
146. 5:33growth, which is exactly what we want in
147. 5:35our gut. It helps to support the growth
148. 5:37of bacteria that's beneficial to the
149. 5:40host and increases the production of
150. 5:42short- chain fatty acids. So, all of
151. 5:44this has been great theory so far, but
152. 5:46it's just that, it's theory. What do the
153. 5:49studies actually show? What happens when
154. 5:51we give psyllium husk to humans? Well,
155. 5:54in 34 men with type 2 diabetes, half of
156. 5:57them got psyllium and the other ones
157. 5:59placebo twice daily for 8 weeks. And
158. 6:02overall, there was lower total
159. 6:04cholesterol and LDL cholesterol
160. 6:06concentrations. In the people that got
161. 6:08the psyllium husk, they also had lower
162. 6:10glucose concentrations. So, this paper
163. 6:12concluded that psyllium husk is well
164. 6:14tolerated. It improves glycemic and
165. 6:17lipid control with patients that have
166. 6:19got type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol
167. 6:22levels. So that is a great start and the
168. 6:24good news keeps on coming. Psyllium husk
169. 6:27or placebo, it was given to people when
170. 6:30they consumed a hamburger and the
171. 6:32results showed that the psyllium husk it
172. 6:34suppressed the increase in serum
173. 6:36triglyceride levels. So overall what
174. 6:39that study was showing is that by having
175. 6:41psyllium husk with food, you're reducing
176. 6:43your cholesterol levels. It also helps
177. 6:46in patients with constipation and it
178. 6:48helps the constipation by promoting
179. 6:50healthy growth of bacteria. So what
180. 6:53about the big one? Will psyllium husk or
181. 6:55fiber help with weight loss? Well, in
182. 6:58345 people who were trying to lose
183. 7:01weight, the most influential predictor
184. 7:03of weight loss was fiber intake. And it
185. 7:06seemed to do this because the people who
186. 7:08had the higher dietary fiber intake,
187. 7:11they were more easily able to follow the
188. 7:13calorierestricted diet. So this calls
189. 7:16back to what we were talking about
190. 7:17earlier on in the video. So we were
191. 7:19talking about how fiber it feeds our
192. 7:22bacteria and when the bacteria are full,
193. 7:24they produce leptin. And it's the leptin
194. 7:27that makes people feel full. So, it was
195. 7:30a lot easier for people who wanted to
196. 7:32lose weight to reduce their calorie
197. 7:34intake because their bodies were telling
198. 7:36them that they were feeling full because
199. 7:38their bacteria were full. And just to
200. 7:41finish off the research, I did have a
201. 7:43look at dietary fiber in regards to
202. 7:45colurectal cancer. But overall, the
203. 7:48quality of evidence was low and there
204. 7:50was high risk of bias in the included
205. 7:52studies. So, it does make sense that
206. 7:54with fiber, we're going to have
207. 7:56healthier bacteria. So in theory, we'd
208. 7:58reduce our cancer risk in the gut, but
209. 8:01there's just not enough data yet to
210. 8:03conclusively prove that. And the one
211. 8:05final thing that I want to go through
212. 8:07about dietary fiber is that it protects
213. 8:09the proteins that we take in. So protein
214. 8:12fermentation refers to the bacterial
215. 8:14breakdown of proteins to amino acids.
216. 8:17The trouble is during this process,
217. 8:19there's other potentially toxic
218. 8:20compounds that are created. And this
219. 8:23process, it normally increases when
220. 8:25there's a shortage of fermentable
221. 8:27carbohydrates available to the gut
222. 8:28bacteria as a source of energy. So if we
223. 8:32don't properly feed the gut bacteria,
224. 8:34they turn to other sources. They start
225. 8:36breaking down proteins, not what we want
226. 8:38because they produce toxic compounds.
227. 8:41What we want to make sure is that the
228. 8:43gut bacteria, they're digesting things
229. 8:45that are going to work for us, such as
230. 8:48psyllium husk. So why psyllium husk
231. 8:50compared to all of the other fiber
232. 8:52options? Well, when it comes to the
233. 8:54benefits of fiber, there's insufficient
234. 8:56clinical evidence to support a
235. 8:58recommendation for other types of fiber
236. 9:00such as bran. But there is enough
237. 9:02evidence for psyllium husk, which is the
238. 9:04only fiber supplement with sufficient
239. 9:06clinical evidence to support a
240. 9:08recommendation. So after looking at all
241. 9:10of this data, it reaffirms to me how
242. 9:12important fiber actually is. So that's
243. 9:15why I always make sure to eat whole
244. 9:17foods. But I've also recently ordered
245. 9:19from Amazon some psyllium husk. And the
246. 9:22brand that I've gone for is called Now
247. 9:24Foods. And I've chosen this brand
248. 9:26because the psyllium husk here, it's
249. 9:28just psyllium husk. There's no other
250. 9:30additives to it. It's also very highly
251. 9:32rated.