Fibercon - good or bad ???
#24306 - 10/24/03 05:56 AM
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Brian
Reged: 10/24/03
Posts: 5
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I just finished reading "IBS The First Year" and fibercon is recommended as a good soluble fiber supplement but I checked with the manufacturer and fibercon is actually an Insoluble fiber. I am confused, should I be using or avoiding fibercon ??
Thank you. 
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I take 6-8 fiber-con a day. Heather will have to explain the soluble insoluble thing, I'm not sure about that. I find that fiber-con doesn't give me gas like most of the other supplements I have tried. I buy the generic store brand, its the same thing and a lot cheaper!
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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I tried fiber con and the store brands, and they never worked for me.
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Don't ask me why they would say they're an insoluble fiber - I don't have a clue. Their product is simply calcium polycarbophil - same thing that's in Equalactin, and also in some generic soluble fiber tablets.
Try them and see what you think - some people really like the pills, other people think the powders work better. I do think it's easier to get a high enough dose with powders vs. pills, but the pills are more convenient to carry with you.
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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HI Brian,
Heather is correct, Fibercon is pure soluble fiber. You have to be careful of these phone reps who answer the call-in lines for companies, b/c they often don't know all that much if they're new to their job. Many of these jobs give the hiree a couple of pages of pre-prepared answers and then these people basically use this list of answers and learn on the phone one call at at time!
If you're just beginning to use soluble fiber supplmts, I'd srongly recommend you start off immed. w/ using H's new product, organic acacia. I've done some research on it, as has Heather(her research is posted on this website)
and it's an EXCELLENT natural- not synthetic-soluble fiber, plus it's no more expensive than the generic brand of fibercon that Costco sells and you actually are getting more soluble fiber per day for less money- I did the math!
Hope this helps! 
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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Thanks for the feedback.
The reason I called the manufaturer in the first place was because I was reading the Mayo Health Clinic newsletter and they referred to Fibercon as an insoluble fiber.
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hmmmm.....now I'm stumped b/c Mayo is an excellent newsletter and I seriously doubt they'd let a typo as significant as this get thru their editors but you never know...it is just 2 extra letters but it makes a HUGE diff to us IBS-ers!! 
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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I checked again with the manufacturer and they insist that Fibercon is an insoluble fiber, so I am still unsure.
But thanks for the replies.
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Fibercon
It talks briefly about how Fibercon works, and has two little pictures. The text is the giveaway - Fibercon absorbs excess liquid in the bowel. Only soluble (meaning "dissolves in water") fiber can do this. Insoluble (meaning "won't dissolve in water") fiber can't absorb liquid.
They also compare Fibercon to other supplements, and to laxatives, here web page and they note that Fibercon helps diarrhea as well as constipation. Only soluble fiber will do this - no one would ever tell you that insoluble fiber will help diarrhea (because it won't - it will make it worse).
Fibercon also defines itself as a "bulk-forming laxative" - this is code for soluble fiber supplement. They note that "Calcium Polycarbophil, the active ingredient in FiberCon, adds bulk to the stool by absorbing water. Calcium Polycarbophil absorbs about 60 times its weight in water." web page Only soluble fiber could absorb water like this.
So, I'm clueless as to why their own company reps say that they're an insoluble fiber, unless there is some FDA regulation I don't know about that requires synthetic fibers to always be labeled as insoluble or some such. The FDA fiber/supplement/laxative regulations are a little screwy in some ways, so this may be a possibility, I really don't know.
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Very good and informative exchange .. Thank you!
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матрешки
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