The instructions I have on a fiber supplement bottle here are typical (emphasis mine): “New users start with 1 serving per day and gradually increase to desired daily intake.”
Generally the implication is that consuming significantly more fiber than you typically do will cause more discomfort (presumably from gas) than consuming that same amount of fiber would do if that has already been routine for you for some time.
What is the mechanism involved here? In what way, and why, does a gut microbiome respond differently to a sudden influx of fiber than how a microbiome adapted to that same rate of fiber intake responds to said intake? How and why does the latter result in less gas or discomfort?
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All I can say is that it’s a shitty process but it’s worth it.
Your gut biome is just a bunch of microorganisms that specialize in breaking down specific foods. If you haven’t been eating much fibre, not much of your biome will be those that break it down. As fibre intake increases, their population can grow and soon your biome is better prepared to break down even more.
The microbiome is microbes, ie bacteria and such. If they don’t get a lot of the kind of food they like they don’t reproduce as fast and/or die sooner. If they start getting more of the food they like (pre-biotics, fiber), they start reproducing faster. It takes time to build up the population that can use all that fiber. Otherwise it just comes out the other end, often watery and with violence.
All I know is taking fiber supplements daily is one of the biggest changes I’ve ever seen from changing my diet.
When you first eat fiber, the bacteria in your body are largely the tacoitia species that does well eating tacos, they love tacos. They also love fiber and will utterly destroy it with nukes, creating gas. But they can’t get a lot of energy from fiber, so prefer tacos.
Fiberatia, a species that can eat tacos but just can’t compete with tacoitia for them, CAN compete for fiber. They’re so good at eating fiber that, eventually, they win and crowd out tacoitia.
So, initially, tacoitia produces nukes with the fiber you give it. But long term, fiberatia out competes and you become normal again.
There are other things going on too, like your body adjusting to the new diet but this is the main thing
When you slowly increase your fiber intake, your gut has time to build up more of those fiber-digesting bacteria. As they grow, your body gets better at handling the fiber, and you don’t feel as gassy or uncomfortable.
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