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Try This Bread for a Healthier Colon
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Of the dozens upon dozens of choices you face in the bread aisle these days, here's a variety of bread that might help boost your colon's natural defense mechanisms: oat bran. In a new study, eating four slices of oat-bran bread every day for 8 weeks was associated with higher colon levels of special gut-protective compounds.
A True Wonder Bread These compounds -- called carboxylic acids -- help defend against diseases such as ulcerative colitis and colon cancer. The compounds form when people eat foods that have indigestible bits, like insoluble fiber. And oat bran happens to be rich in fabulous beta-glucan fiber. In the recent study, the participants ate oat-bran bread enriched with extra beta glucan, so it may be worth your while to check labels and find the highest-fiber brand of oat-bran bread that you can.
Compounding Protection Carboxylic acids help your colon by improving the protective mucus found there, so harmful lesions are less likely to form. And one particular form of carboxylic acid -- butyric acid -- may have souped-up inflammation- and cancer-fighting qualities as well.
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