Los expertos en nutrición tienen muy claro la importancia de una alimentación rica en fibra por sus efectos benéficos sobre la salud y la prevención de enfermedades.
¿Pero qué es la fibra?, ¿cuales son las ventajas de una alimentación rica en fibra dietética? Para los expertos, la fibra es imprescindible en cualquier dieta sana y equilibrada, al ser un conjunto de sustancias presentes en alimentos vegetales, que no pueden ser digeridas por las enzimas del aparato digestivo.
Lo cierto es que los alimentos ricos en fibra acaparan cada vez mas presencia en el mercado. La destacada nutrióloga Ximena Muñoz explica importancia de una dieta rica en Fibra.

“Existen dos tipos de fibra: La insoluble y la soluble. La primera no se disuelve en agua y es posible encontrarla en alimentos como el salvado de trigo, granos enteros y las verduras. Su principal acción en el organismo es aumentar el volumen de las heces (deposiciones), disminuyendo el tiempo de transito de los alimentos y las heces a través del tubo digestivo. Como consecuencia, este tipo de fibra, al ingerirse diariamente, facilita las deposiciones ayudando a eliminar el estreñimiento”, precisa la Dra. Ximena Muñoz, nutrióloga de Clínica MEDS.

La fibra soluble, en tanto, agrega la especialista, “la encontramos en las legumbres, la avena, la cebada y algunas frutas. Las dietas altas en fibra soluble ybajas en grasa disminuyen los niveles de colesterol sanguíneos. Pero, ademas, este tipo de fibra y los componentes que contiene puede regular la absorción intestinal de los azúcares procedentes de los alimentos”, enfatiza.

Pese a la clara importancia para nuestro organismo, la fibra no es un componente muy presente en nuestra dieta diaria. Para la Dra. Munoz, “el consumo debe estar entre los 20 y 35 gramos por día, cifra que la población no alcanza a consumir. Por eso es necesario que se aumente el consumo de frutas y vegetales y siempre que sea posible comerlos con cascara. Incluya en las comidas cereales integrales y productos de harina integral (pan, galletas, fideos, etc). A ellos agregue el consumo de legumbres, al menos una vez a la semana”, recomienda la especialista.

One of each four (24.5%) between 5 and 64 years eat junk food every week. The people between 14 and 30 years have the highest rate and the consumption is higher in the urban areas. Another problem is the high consumption of soda; one of each five consume soda per day and one of each two per week. Finally in Colombia the consumption of candies is high. One of each 3 Colombians consumed dialy. 17.8% consume two or more times per day. The consumption is 12 percentage points bigger in the urban areas in comparison with rural areas

2.2 Breastfeeding and supplementary feeding.
In Colombia, 96% of the women start to breastfeeding their newborns and a little bit more of the half of the women does this practice in the first hour. In that practice the country had an improvement in the last 5 years (2005:49% 2010:56.6%). Nowadays the total duration in months of breastfeeding is 14 months, since 2005 that rate do not improve. The women who live in rural areas and with a low level in SISBEN breastfeed her children more time. The introduction ofsupplementary feeding start between 6 and 8 months. In the supplementary feeding of children under 3 years the most common foods are water, juices, agua de panela( traditional drink) and protein sources as beef, poultry, fish, egg. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is not common.

3. Nutritional deficiencies. The information that had National importance is taken from the National survey on Nutritional status Colombia (2005) (2010) (ENSIN 2005) (ENSIN 2010) and also the data that comes from the National survey on demography and health (ENDS). In these surveys the country was divided in 7 regions. East, Central, Pacific, Bogota, Orinoco and Amazon. SISBEN levels are used and those are related with the socio-economical capacity of the people.

3.1 Children under 5 years:
Those surveys show that the percentage of Chronical Malnutrition is about 13.2% that in an International level is considered as low prevalence. Between 2005- 2010 the reduction was about 17%. That leaves Colombia to 5.2% percentual points to accomplish the goal that was propose for the country in the objective of the development of the millennium to reduce the chronic malnutrition in children less than 5 years to 8.0%. The major proportion of chronic malnutrition are in the people that is in the 1, 2 level of SISBEN, in children with mothers that had less level of education and that lives in the Atlantic, Amazon Orinoco and Pacific region. The data showsthat Colombia is in the third pace of lower prevalence in Latin American countries.

3.2Children between 5 and 17 years:
The situation between the children of 5 years and 17 years shows an improvement; the growth retardation decrease 28%. Nevertheless 1 of each 10 children and teenagers between at those ages has retardation in growth. The high prevalence is in level 1 of SISBEN (13.4%), in children with mothers that does not have education (24.1%). In the rural area the prevalence is double in comparison with the urban area (15.2% vs. 7. 9). The departments with more problems are located in the Pacific and Amazon region. On the other hand the prevalence of obesity has increased a 25.9%. One of six children and teenagers
presents overweight or obesity and this relation increase with increasing the level of SISBEN and the educative level of the mother (9.4% for mothers without education and 26.8% with mothers with high education). In the urban area the percentage is about 19.2% and in the rural area about 13.4%

3.2 Adults (18-64 years
An increase in the weight of adult population is obtained in the surveys. One of two Colombians has overweight. The data shows an increase of 5.3 percentual points (2005: 45.9% and 2010: 51.2%). Is more common in females (55 % vs 45.6%). All the levels of SISBEN show high prevalence that is over 45%. The proportion is the same for all the departments and the prevalence is higher inurban areas (52.5%) that are over the national mean.

3.4 Anemia
One of each 6 children between 1 to 4 years and 1 of 6 pregnant women of the sample has anemia; this proportion is of 11% in teenagers between 13 and 17 years. Is frequently t in rural areas and in the population that is classified in 1 and ¿Qué tipo de enfermedades podemos prevenir?
Según la Dra. Ximena Muñoz, “la presencia de fibra en nuestro organismo ayuda a tratar y prevenir la constipación. Es útil en el tratamiento de la obesidad ya que disminuye la densidad calórica de la dieta y da sensación de saciedad. Es beneficiosa, ademas, en el tratamiento de la diverticulosis, previene el cancer de colon y las enfermedades cardiovasculares, toda vez que reduce los niveles de colesterol en la sangre y retarda la absorción intestinal de glucosa, por lo tanto es muy útil también en el tratamiento de la diabetes”, enfatizó.