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Keep in mind that recommended daily requirements are not indisputable science, the phrase "made-up nonsense" comes to mind. The fact that only 3% of the populat

Keep in mind that recommended daily requirements are not indisputable science, the phrase "made-up nonsense" comes to mind. The fact that only 3% of the population meets the guidelines but do just fine is proof of this. I think we'd get fiber cravings if we were truly deficient.

chillacy 8y ago
Agree that dietary requirements are unscientific, though not sure cravings actually work that way, it would've saved a lot of lives if sailors with scurvy got citrus cravings or something.
- Reason077 8y ago
  Undoubtably, sailors on long ocean voyages really did crave the fresh foods (fruit, vegetables, meat) which would have contained enough Vitamin C to prevent (and reverse) scurvy. The problem was these were often not actually available on their voyages.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Were they actually craving those foods, I think the solution to scurvy would have been discovered almost immediately. Alas, the human body rarely if ever communicates useful solutions in this way.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  I got grapefruit juice cravings when experimenting with polyphasic sleep in college, and I had never had the desire to drink grapefruit juice at the college cafeteria before then. That's interesting, but yeah, I'm not sure either. I've managed to ignore my body's signals regarding food in all sorts of destructive ways.
saiya-jin 8y ago
US population is not doing just fine when it comes to nutrition and overall health. What is wrong would make a very lengthy article on its own, but I guess we can agree there are definitely things to improve, and this could be one of them. One of the reasons we might not be having fiber cravings is, we don't need it for ourselves per se, but foreign, albeit friendly gut bacteria. It is possible for bacteria to manipulate its hosts ie by releasing some enzymes, but maybe we didn't evolve our symbiosis that far yet. Or we're drowning those cravings into more intense ones like sugar or other addictions.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  If only half of the population is doing fine, 6% of them are hitting that fiber number.
DrAwdeOccarim 8y ago
When you eat fiber, your body produces bile to digest it. Because it's hard to digest, you produce more bile. Bile is made from cholesterol, so a high intake of fiber directly reduces cholesterol levels. If you believe high cholesterol levels increase cardiovascular disease risk, then increasing fiber decreases cardiovascular disease risk which is the largest killer of Americans. Another major benefit of fiber is that is slows down the breakdown of long-chain carbohydrates because you dilute them with long-chain cellulose carbohydrates that our body can't breakdown. This slows their absorption into the blood thus smoothing out sugar entry and subsequent insulin increases. Insulin sensitivity is a major health issue, typically showing up as diabetes and other metabolic disorders.
imtringued 8y ago
I don't think they are doing just fine. It's likely that they are having subtle issues that they aren't aware of and just accept them as is.
astura 8y ago
I'm not sure we can say we all "do just fine" on a low fiber diet. The current #1 killer in most Western countries is heart disease and we know high fiber diet decreases the risk of developing heart disease. High fiber diets also decreases the risk of other very, very common aliments like stroke, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. I badly crave donuts, especially on weekends; I can't come to the conclusion my body requires more donuts.

chillacy 8y ago

Agree that dietary requirements are unscientific, though not sure cravings actually work that way, it would've saved a lot of lives if sailors with scurvy got citrus cravings or something.

Reason077 8y ago
Undoubtably, sailors on long ocean voyages really did crave the fresh foods (fruit, vegetables, meat) which would have contained enough Vitamin C to prevent (and reverse) scurvy. The problem was these were often not actually available on their voyages.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Were they actually craving those foods, I think the solution to scurvy would have been discovered almost immediately. Alas, the human body rarely if ever communicates useful solutions in this way.
SamReidHughes 8y ago
I got grapefruit juice cravings when experimenting with polyphasic sleep in college, and I had never had the desire to drink grapefruit juice at the college cafeteria before then. That's interesting, but yeah, I'm not sure either. I've managed to ignore my body's signals regarding food in all sorts of destructive ways.

saiya-jin 8y ago

US population is not doing just fine when it comes to nutrition and overall health. What is wrong would make a very lengthy article on its own, but I guess we can agree there are definitely things to improve, and this could be one of them. One of the reasons we might not be having fiber cravings is, we don't need it for ourselves per se, but foreign, albeit friendly gut bacteria. It is possible for bacteria to manipulate its hosts ie by releasing some enzymes, but maybe we didn't evolve our symbiosis that far yet. Or we're drowning those cravings into more intense ones like sugar or other addictions.

SamReidHughes 8y ago
If only half of the population is doing fine, 6% of them are hitting that fiber number.

DrAwdeOccarim 8y ago

When you eat fiber, your body produces bile to digest it. Because it's hard to digest, you produce more bile. Bile is made from cholesterol, so a high intake of fiber directly reduces cholesterol levels. If you believe high cholesterol levels increase cardiovascular disease risk, then increasing fiber decreases cardiovascular disease risk which is the largest killer of Americans. Another major benefit of fiber is that is slows down the breakdown of long-chain carbohydrates because you dilute them with long-chain cellulose carbohydrates that our body can't breakdown. This slows their absorption into the blood thus smoothing out sugar entry and subsequent insulin increases. Insulin sensitivity is a major health issue, typically showing up as diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

imtringued 8y ago

I don't think they are doing just fine. It's likely that they are having subtle issues that they aren't aware of and just accept them as is.

astura 8y ago

I'm not sure we can say we all "do just fine" on a low fiber diet. The current #1 killer in most Western countries is heart disease and we know high fiber diet decreases the risk of developing heart disease. High fiber diets also decreases the risk of other very, very common aliments like stroke, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. I badly crave donuts, especially on weekends; I can't come to the conclusion my body requires more donuts.