Our bodies cannot digest cellulose because we lack the enzyme cellulase. Why is cellulose an important part of a healthy diet if we cannot digest it?

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Hi, everyone. Let's look at our next question. It says, why is cellulose essential to our diet even if we cannot digest it? And we have four answer choices here. So we'll just discuss each of them as we read through them. Troy says it provides essential vitamins and minerals that our body needs. But cellulose is just a polymer of glucose. Even if our body could digest it, it doesn't contain vitamins or minerals, just glucose monomers. So do I say incorrect? So B says it helps to regulate blood sugar levels by breaking down into glucose slowly. But again, our problem just told us right there that our body cannot digest glucose. So it would not break down into glucose. Our body cannot digest cellulose, excuse me. So it wouldn't be breaking down into glucose. So choice B cannot be our answer. Let's look at Tracy. It acts as dietary fiber, aiding in digestion and promoting bowel health. And this will be our correct answer. Fiber is important in our diet. Even if it's not broken down for energy, it has numerous roles in digestion in the body. So one of them is it slows the absorption of sugar. And that just sort of spreads out the jump in blood glucose level when glucose is consumed, slows absorption of sugar. The second thing it does is that it adds bulk to stool, which makes the stool pass through the system more quickly, preventing constipation. And while our own bodies can't digest cellulose, some of the gut bacteria can. So it also feeds the gut bacteria in many cases. And finally, just to be thorough, let's look at choice D it is a source of energy that the body can store for later use. But we just said our body cannot break down the cellulose. So it can't be a source of energy. So that's why choice D is incorrect. So again, our correct answer here to why cellulose is essential to our diet. Even if we can digest it is choice C it acts as a dietary fiber, aiding in digestion and promoting bowel health. See you in the next video.

Our bodies cannot digest cellulose because we lack the enzyme cellulase. Why is cellulose an important part of a healthy diet if we cannot digest it?

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Key Concepts

Cellulose

Dietary Fiber

Gut Health