Digestive Health
Apple Pectin and Gut Health
Apple pectin provides good bacteria for the intestines, reduces
the risk of colon cancer and helps fight intestinal bacterial
infections. Apple pectin has been shown to reduce colorectal
tumors, improve overall digestive health and the health of
the gut, and to increase the beneficial microbiota. Pectin is a
powerful prebiotic and feeds the beneficial bacteria.
Fibre and your Digestion
There are two types of fiber: insoluble and soluble.Insoluble fibre mainly assists with moving stool through the intestine. ProPectin contains high quality, pharmaceutical grade soluble fibre. Being a soluble fiber, pectin is also excellent for keeping the colon clean. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, soluble fibers, like pectin, help to bind cholesterol in the intestines, increasing its elimination from the body. A study published in the "Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry" in June of 1998 demonstrated that rats fed apple or orange pectin saw decreases in cholesterol levels.
Weight Loss
Researchers at Konkuk University in Korea has tested the effects of a pectin-containing beverage on food intake levels for healthy but overweight women.
The results of their study indicate that women who consumed the pectin twice a day consumed 12 percent fewer calories than usual at lunch time and 22 percent fewer calories at dinner. (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2007)
Pectin and high fibre diets can assist with sustainable weight loss.
Nutritionist Robert Pritikin, in his work, “The New Pritikin Program,” says that pectin-rich foods provide “built-in weight control” because they swell inside your stomach and make you feel full and satisfied-and therefore less likely to overeat.
Giving you the sensation of being full is a big help to keeping calories to a minimum. Writing in The Huffington Post, Kathy Freston says fiber, like apple pectin, fills the belly yet provides few calories since fiber, for the most part, is not something you can digest. It also slows down the digestion of food, so you get a slow and steady source of glucose “without the rollercoaster ride of blood sugar crazies and the cravings that follow.”
Freston reports that researchers at UCLA exchanged pectin for regular fiber and doubled the time it took subjects’ stomachs to empty-from about one hour to two hours. This means the subjects felt fuller longer.