If you supplement, try to get your fiber from a variety of sources in addition to a high- fiber diet. Look for products like psyllium , apple and grapefruit pectin , guar gum, methylcellulose, and calcium polycarbophil. At your local health food store, you may also find wheat and oat bran tablets and multifiber tablets with ingredients like beet and carrot fibers. Psyllium is a popular and inexpensive fiber supplement with a laxative as well as a cholesterol-lowering effect, says Dr. Nelson. This supplement is available in pill, capsule, or powder form.
All forms are equally effective, but fiber capsules and tablets are more expensive than powders.
If you re taking a tablet or capsule, you have to take as many as 10 to get the same amount of fiber you d find in a tablespoon of psyllium seed powder, says Jennifer Brett, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at the Wilton Naturopathic Center in Stratford, Connecticut. With so many pills to take, people tend to abandon them more quickly than they do powder supplements. Psyllium causes gas and bloating in some people. If that happens to you, try flaxseed , which is easiest to take in capsules or in powdered form. In addition to fiber , flaxseed contains lignans, compounds that may have anti-cancer, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral effects, says Dr. Nelson.