Diverticulosis
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A Disease of Civilization
Diverticulosis
is a disorder of Western civilization where the fiber intake in food
has been dramatically reduced over the years. Rural Africans, for
instance, in many areas eat mostly a grain-vegetable diet with large
amounts of fiber being consumed every day. A fiber intake of 50 grams a
day or more is common. These people rarely have diverticulosis of the
colon, nor for that matter, other disorders of the colon such as polyps,
cancer and irritable bowel syndrome. So what is this fiber business? Food fiber comes from plants. None of it is digested in the small intestine. All of it reaches the colon. There are many types of fiber but they all fall into two main categories. Soluble fiber is fermented by and feeds the bacteria that live in the colon. Insoluble fiber is not fermented but does retain large amounts of water (see Introduction to Prebiotics). Together, they create a large, bulky stool which is usually soft and easy to pass. Let me demonstrate how this high pressure in the sigmoid colon works on small, thin stool and a larger bulkier stool.
