In Georgia, a study conducted by researchers at Georgia State University demonstrates that the more fiber you eat, the healthier you are in terms of weight, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and colon health. Research with mice show that Western diets, which are high in fats and sugars but low in fiber, are linked to weight gain, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel diseases.
The study focused on how and why fiber is so powerful and found that a lack of fiber caused the colons of mice to shrink significantly in thickness and that gut bacteria died off leading to unhealthy imbalances of different gut bacteria strains. Once researchers added fiber supplements into the mice diets, they found the fiber restored colon mass and restored the amount and diversity of gut bacteria, though not quite to its original bacterial diversity.