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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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