Biscuit Braga

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the major causes of death in the world, including in Indonesia. Increasing the number of deaths is influenced by changes in lifestyle. High-fiber diet helps prevent the deadly attacks.

All the people would fear a heart attack that could end in sudden death. Citing a report, in a seminar on the heart, Dr. Idris Idham, Sp.JP, FESC, said that more than one million people in the United States suffered a heart attack each year.

Half of them suffered death in the first hours after the attack. The other half managed to reach the hospital to get help and was treated in the Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU) or also called Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (Cardio Vascular Care Unit).

The death rate of patients in the hospital could reach about 15 percent, usually due to death (necrose) extensive heart muscle. Approximately 425,000 patients admitted to the hospital, but about 10 percent (42,000 people) of that number died after a year later.

According to Drs. Idris, a heart attack occurs when there is death of heart muscle caused by interruption of blood supply to the heart muscle. The event was due to clogging of one or more coronary arteries by a blood clot. This blood clot called a thrombus. Blocked coronary arteries result in heart muscles have no other blood supply with all the nutrients it contains, such as glucose, vitamins, and minerals, hormones and electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.

Still, you do not need to worry. To reduce the risk of interference above, various efforts can be made. The point is to always keep blood cholesterol levels that can be blamed clogged coronary arteries, not high. In addition to use of vitamin B3 (niacin), C, and E, the effort can also be done with high-fiber diet.

Fiber Benefits
Once the fiber is considered as a forgotten nutrient because its function is unclear. However, as one component of food, fiber is now known to have an important role in maintaining health.

Fiber consists of two types, namely, soluble fiber and insoluble. Soluble fiber is not digested by digestive enzymes, but soluble in hot water. Soluble fiber is what makes the stomach full longer and longer energizing and helpful in lowering blood cholesterol levels. Commonly found in fruits and vegetables, especially serelia like oats.

Insoluble fiber are not digested and does not dissolve in hot water. Although not digestible, said DR. Ali Khomsan, fibers have metabolic functions of essential nutrients. In the digestive tract, fiber helps the fermentation process the nutrients. Fiber is useful to prevent constipation and is gentle to avoid the risk of colon and stomach cancer. This fiber contained in vegetables such as asparagus, peas, and oats serelia like.

Because not digested, fiber into the colon (large intestine) in one piece. Fiber reaches the colon in large volume and requires a broad, resulting in satiety. Therefore, the presence of fibers in the stomach and digestive tract will reduce one’s desire to eat more, thus preventing the risk of obesity.

According to Drs. Lanny Lestiani, Sp.G (K), MSc., A nutritionist from the Department of Nutritional Sciences Faculty of Medicine University of Indonesia (FKUI), high-fiber diet helps lower cholesterol in the blood. Fiber useful in retaining water and the viscosity in the digestive tract, will be converted into a gel in the intestine. The goal is to hold water so that people do not easily hungry.

Vegetable Cook
DR. Ali Khomsan added fiber sources like vegetables and fruits easily found in daily menu. Vegetables can be eaten in raw form or after processing by boiling. Even so, the results of a student research Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Rahayu, 1990, shows dietary fiber in cooked vegetables actually increased compared with raw vegetables.

How can this? The process of cooking it would eliminate some nutrients. In addition, the process of cooking also causes the browning reaction in nutritional analysis counted as dietary fiber. This is what causes the cooked vegetables had a higher fiber content. In his research, Rahayu found that the vegetables are boiled with water to produce the highest dietary fiber content (6.40 percent), steamed (6.24 percent), cooked with coconut milk (5.98 percent), and raw (5.97 percent).

In general, fiber in the vegetables reached 32 percent, 38 percent fruit, 32 percent wheat, and beans 25 percent. Dr. Lanny, the need for fiber is 10-14 gr/1.000 Indonesia calories.

Oat Fiber

Not be denied, Indonesia is now flooded with oat products, often called oatmeal, entered in serelia family. Compared to rice each contain 100 grams 0.1 grams of soluble fiber and wheat which only 2.2 grams, per 100 grams of oats contain 5.1 grams of soluble fiber. High in fiber makes oats feasible option to be used as high-fiber diet.

As an illustration, a soluble fiber in the body can bind cholesterol and remove it from the body. The role that is capable of lowering blood cholesterol levels, to reduce the risk of CHD. People who are obese can also combine oats with low-cholesterol foods and fats. Oats can be utilized in the form of oatmeal, biscuits, and bread.

How do oats reduce cholesterol? The following short description:

1. In the liver, cholesterol is converted into bile acids, and then released into the small intestine to help digest fats from food consumed.

2. If mengasup oatmeal, oat soluble fiber in the small intestine to form a gel that binds fat, cholesterol, and bile acids.

3. Because bound by soluble oat fiber in the form of gels, some bile acids can not be absorbed back through the wall of the intestine, and bile acids excreted through the large intestine, so that bile acids in the liver decreased.

4. To replace the lost bile acids, the liver will pull cholesterol from the blood to produce bile acids.

5. As a result, total blood cholesterol levels will decrease.

6. By decreasing blood cholesterol levels, the risk of CHD can be prevented.