Tuesday Sep 9, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- Researchers at School of Nursing, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN published a report suggesting that dietary fiber supplements like psyllium may help treat fecal incontinence (FI).

Fecal incontinence is a condition in which a patient accidentally or involuntarily let solid or liquid stool or mucus pass through the rectum.  This condition per se does not seem to be a big problem, but can be upsetting and embarrassing.  However, it could be a sign of other health problems.

The new study compared three dietary fibers, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), gum arabic (GA) or psyllium, to see how they could help FI and found only psyllium effective in reducing FI infrequence.

In the study, 189 individuals who had FI were assigned to consume placebo or 16 grams ot total fiber per day of one of the fiber supplements for 32 days.

Psyllium supplementation reduced FI frequency compared to placebo while CMC increase FI frequency.  And only psyllium resulted in a gel in feces.   These supplements were well tolerated.

Dietary fiber supplements can be purchased from online supplement stores or local health stores.  (David Liu, PHD)

Bliss DZ, Savik K, Jung HJ, Whitebird R, Lowry A, Sheng X.  Dietary Fiber Supplementation for Fecal Incontinence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.  Res Nurs Health. 2014 Aug 23.