On this edition of Your Call, we continue our series on chronic disease and cancer with gastroenterologist Dr. Alan Desmond.
He asks: when food is fast becoming the leading cause of poor health, disability, chronic gut health problems, and healthy years lost, why are we doctors not talking about it all the time? A major problem is that most people are not eating enough fiber.
Research shows that a fiber-rich diet can lower the risk of chronic disease, cancer, and early death, but only five percent of people in the US eat the recommended amount of fiber each day. Dr. Desmond says all health begins in the gut. How can we improve our fiber intake and overall health?
Guest:
Dr. Alan Desmond, gut health specialist, general physician, author of The Plant-Based Diet Revolution: 28 Days to a Happier Gut and a Healthier You, and host of The Eat This Podcast
Resources:
Stanford Lifestyle Medicine: What is Fiber and Why is it Important for the Microbiome?
CNN: High-fiber diet linked to lower risk of death and chronic diseases
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: High-fiber diet linked with reduced breast cancer risk
Harvard Health Publishing: Fiber linked to lower risk for chronic disease and early death
UPMC Physician Resources: Dietary Prevention of Colon Cancer and Other Noncommunicable Westernized Diseases
Nature: Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome
