We all know that whole grains such as rice, wheat and oats are healthy because they are rich in dietary fiber with a lot of health benefits. But did you know that we are not able to digest this fiber on our own? And if we can’t digest something, then we can’t use it. So how can it be that, on one hand we eat whole grains to benefit from their healthy elements, and on the other hand, we can’t extract these healthy elements?

A recent study has answered this question. The study took a closer look at the behavior of the gut bacteria in the presence of dietary fiber from whole grains, namely the complex arabinoxylans. These arabinoxylans capture the healthy ferulic acid in their long chains. The researchers discovered a new group of gut bacteria, the Bacteroides bacteria, which activate enzymes to break down the complex arabinoxylans and release large amounts of any ferulic acid they come across. The most important is that the released ferulic acid stays free for absorption in our gut, providing us with the extra antioxidants.

By the way, ferulic acid is an important antioxidant that helps us to cope with different diseases, such as diabetes, allergic inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and heart problems.

Curious? HERE is the source