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Effect of Fiber on Colon Function

  • Chapter
Medical Aspects of Dietary Fiber

Part of the book series: Topics in Gastroenterology ((TGEN))

Abstract

The most important problem that becomes apparent when discussing the effect of dietary fiber on colonic function is the limited procedures for assessing colonic function. Unlike the measurement of respiratory, cardiac, or renal function in physiology and medicine, no comparable methods exist to assess colon function. The clinician usually asks only if an individual’s bowels move regularly, partly because colon function is so poorly defined. The role of the colon is somewhat belittled, as it is possible to live in good health with an ileostomy, i.e., with the colon totally removed. The ileostomy situation, however, does not sufficiently emphasize the absorptive and functional changes that must occur in the ileum to compensate for the loss of the colon. The functions of the colon (Fig. 1) can be summarized as follows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wolfson Gastrointestinal Laboratories, Gastrointestinal Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Martin A. Eastwood, William Cordon Brydon & Kebede Tadesse

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  1. Martin A. Eastwood
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  2. William Cordon Brydon
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  3. Kebede Tadesse
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  1. Syntex Research, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Gene A. Spiller

  2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Ruth McPherson Kay

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Eastwood, M.A., Brydon, W.C., Tadesse, K. (1980). Effect of Fiber on Colon Function. In: Spiller, G.A., Kay, R.M. (eds) Medical Aspects of Dietary Fiber. Topics in Gastroenterology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9176-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9176-4_1

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