Investigating Food Myths with Dr. Oz

The Oprah Winfrey Show | September 17, 2007

After a week on a high-fiber diet, the truckers swallowed the same kind of pill Dr. Oz took. Both significantly reduced their transit times. Wolfgang, who had taken nearly two days to pass his food, cut his time down to just 12 hours. Meanwhile, Don cut his time in half.

Dr. Oz says the positive effects of getting enough fiber will happen "almost immediately." The fiber can help move things through your system—including toxins—very quickly. And that's not all. "Bile, when it gets absorbed through the bowel, turns into cholesterol. So when you take a lot of fiber in your diet, you suck the bile out of you, and your cholesterol drops automatically. It also gets rid of sugar, which helps the diabetics. And it's a great tool if you want to lose weight because it makes you feel full."

Do you need to get more fiber in your diet? Most likely, Dr. Oz says. The average American gets just seven grams of fiber a day. But women need about 25 grams a day, and men need 35 grams a day. "That's somewhere between seven and nine helpings of fruits and vegetables," he says.

If you radically increase your intake of fiber, though, you may feel gassy. "Your intestinal tract isn't ready for it," Dr. Oz says. "The fiber in the bowel is permeated by all these bacteria, the bacteria eat the fiber, and they make gas. That's their waste product. So you've got to slowly build up when you add fiber to your diet. But at the end of the day, you're going to have some gas. But it's a good sign because you're digesting food that's good for you."