Date:   12/16/2011 6:12:54 AM ( 13 y ago)
Hits:   3,378
URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1891466

According to this website, fiber is actually one of the causes of constipation and drinking a lot of water does not prevent or relieve constipation:

http://www.gutsense.org/gutsense/constipation.html

The article is full of misinformation and contradictions.

In short, fiber helps to feed the flora that produce the majority of the body's serotonin.  One of the roles of serotonin is to regulate intestinal peristalsis.  In fact, the author somewhat eludes to this fact:

"Constipation, irregularity, and hard stools have many causes. Major among them are the damage to intestinal flora, or disbacteriosis;"

One of the contradictions of the author is the author first claims that fiber holds 5 times its volume in water.  Fiber makes up much of the indigestables in the stool.  But the author then claims that the water in stool is retained by dead bacteria.  Then towards the end of the article the author claims that it is the potassium that causes the water retention in the stool.

As to drinking water the author writes:

"If you are still in denial over eight glasses of water, the arch-conservative Journal of the American Dietetic Association nods in agreement with some of these points:

“It is a common but erroneous belief that the increased weight [of stool] is due primarily to water. The moisture content of human stool is 70% to 75% and this doesn’t change when more fiber is consumed. In other words, fiber in colon is not more effective at holding water in the lumen than the other components of stool [8].”"

Apparently the author is unaware that one role of the colon is to absorb "excess" water from the stool.  Therefore, increasing water intake is not going to increase stool weight as the excess water simply gets absorbed.  On the other hand, a lack of water intake could lead to drier stools as more water is absorbed to meet more important needs by the body.

Then the author erroneously states that the more water you drink the more constipation will result from a loss of potassium that holds moisture in the feces.  To start with the author apparently does not know that the body's electrolyte levels are tightly regulated.  If sodium is high then the body will dump the sodium while retaining potassium and vice versa.

Secondly, the author states that the total ash content of feces is 0.2% to 1.2%.  The ash consists of various minerals, not just potassium.  This would mean that the potassium content would only be a small portion of the ash.  And even the ash were purely potassium a 1.2% potassium content is not enough to hold that much moisture in the stool.  So again the author has a contradiction.

And it is the water content of the stool that regulates the sodium and potassium levels in the stool:

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jnsv/52/2/52_121/_article

"Results: The moisture content of the feces ranged between 53 and 92%. Na content in the feces was low and stable when the moisture content was below 80%, whereas it increased up to serum levels when the moisture content increased above 80%. On the other hand, K content increased when compared to dry matter base. However, when comparing concentration/g moisture, K content increased when moisture was below 70%, but decreased when this rose above 70%."

The author's claim to reduce water intake and implying to eat more animal protein is dangerous.  High protein and low water intake is just asking for kidney damage/failure as the unhydrolyzed uric acid from the protein cuts up the kidneys as it passes through the kidneys as sharp crystals.

Another bit of dangerous misinformation from the author is:

"Incidentally, a low-salt diet lowers blood pressure not because salt causes it (salt consumed in moderation absolutely doesn’t, the idea that it does is another big lie, waiting to get debunked), but because, at least initially, sodium deficiency causes dehydration. In turn, this reduces the volume of blood. Less blood in the system = less blood pressure. That’s a no-brainer. "

The truth is that sodium does cause water retention.  Proof of this can be seen with the use of steroidal drugs like Prednisone.  Ever notice how people on Prednisone balloon up with water retention and often end up with high blood pressure.  This is because the steroids deplete potassium and cause sodium retention.  Since the sodium causes water retention the tissues fill up with fluid and the blood pressure goes up.

Potassium lowers blood pressure because it displaces sodium and thus acts as a diuretic.  By ridding the body of excess sodium, and thus water the blood pressure goes down.

There are other misconceptions in the article, but I am not going to address all of them.

Prior to reading this, I believed that a high fiber diet coupled with drinking lots of water was good, but now I'm not sure anymore.

Yes, both fiber and water are very important.  And not just for maintaining regularity.  Water serves numerous purposes including nutrient absorption and transportation and conversion of uric acid in to urea so the crystals do not harm the kidneys.  Fibers feed the flora, help to form bile, bind free hormones, bind various toxins, etc.

And what about the colon cleanse using psyllium and bentonite clay that's posted on curezone:

http://curezone.com/cleanse/bowel/default.asp


Is that bad, too?

What do you guys think?

Psyllium is hard on the colon and tends to cause bloating.  There are much better choices for fiber such as fruits, vegetables, chlorella, rice or oat bran, vegetable gums, etc.

I don't care for bentonite either.  There are concerns about plugging the intestines and the heavy metal and aluminum content.

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