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traketaker t1_j7l7sbt wrote

Reply to comment by dbanderson1 in A systematic review and meta-analysis has concluded that increased consumption of dietary carbohydrate intake is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality. by Meatrition

Most fiber is insoluble. It just acts to carry everything through your system and clean you out. There are dietary fibers that do break down and are carbohydrates but that's a small amount. So it's a bad idea to just lump fiber as a carb.

"Dietary fiber is the kind you eat. It's a type of carbohydrate."

https://medlineplus.gov/dietaryfiber.html

"Your body cannot digest fiber, so it passes through your intestines without being absorbed much"

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000193.htm

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dbanderson1 t1_j7lif0j wrote

It’s made of carbon and hydrogen. It’s a carbohydrate. There are three main types of carbohydrates:

Sugars. They are also called simple carbohydrates because they are in the most basic form.

Starches. They are complex carbohydrates, which are made of lots of simple sugars strung together.

Fiber. It is also a complex carbohydrate.

I was making the point because the above poster was trying to argue that candy and brown rice are equally bad be abuse they are “carbs.” All carbs aren’t created equal. Brown rice has fiber and other important nutrients and overall drastically different physiological effects than pure simple sugar.

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traketaker t1_j7lkxas wrote

Ya. Sorry. I agree with you kind of. It was just a weird statement bc it's irrelevant if it's a carb if it just passes through. Also I'm skeptical of the "all fiber is carbs" statement. I mean all plant fiber, sure. But for a mountain lion hair and bone constitute fiber and I don't think hair is a carbohydrate. Or if a human ate hair wouldn't that constitute fiber in fecal matter. You may be right, I'm not an expert

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dbanderson1 t1_j7lrxly wrote

Hair is mostly keratin which is actually a helical protein.

Is interesting that while we don’t directly digest and breakdown fiber … our gut microbes do and in ferment them into short chain fatty acids which are also important for gut health. Having a masters degree in nutritional sciences I approach the question more in regards from the biochemistry of the molecule. If you revisit your nutrition facts label you will indeed find fiber as a sub component of carbohydrate. Under carbohydrate it lists dietary fiber, total sugars, and added sugars. Some products like cheerios list soluble fiber as well.

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