Rye bread beats laxatives for constipation relief

If your internal plumbing is regularly getting clogged, the answer isn’t a laxative… but something that’s been hiding in plain sight.

A new study finds that pastrami’s best friend, fiber-rich rye bread, is actually far more effective than most laxatives for constipation relief.

Researchers in Finland recruited 51 constipated adults, and randomly gave them one of five possible remedies: a laxative, whole grain rye bread, buttermilk with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, white wheat bread and a combination of the rye bread and buttermilk.

The folks who ate the rye bread saw their internal sewage moving between 21 and 43 percent faster than those who took the laxatives or white wheat bread, according to the study published in the Journal of Nutrition.

The Lactobacillus-loaded buttermilk, on the other and, appeared to have no effect at all.

If there’s a downside to this, it’s that the rye bread eaters were given 240 grams per day. If you want to try this out, you’d better REALLY like rye… that’s around 7 slices of store-bought rye bread each day.

Researchers believe the secret is arabinoxylan — a component of fiber that may be especially abundant in rye bread. They say bacteria in the colon can ferment the arabinoxylan, creating the colonic short chain fatty acids that can help keep your pipes clear.

Constipation may not be a pleasant condition to talk about… but if you’ve got it, you’re hardly alone. More than a quarter of the population of Western countries is believed to suffer from this condition, and many turn to over-the- counter laxatives.

There are two big problems with laxatives: Many of them don’t work very well… and they come with some stomach- wrenching side effects. People who take laxatives with any regularity face cramping and other forms of stomach pain, as well as dehydration, diarrhea and vomiting.

They can also cause gas at both ends.

And if you think you’ve got stomach problems now — you ain’t seen nothing yet. Take these meds often enough, and your body can actually forget how to work without them.

A piece of rye bread, on the other hand, will just give you some extra carbs. Not great if you’re trying to cut back — but far better than the alternative if you’re having trouble keeping your internal assembly line moving.