Why is fiber so important if it just passes through our digestive system?
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There are two kinds of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves into water, and insoluble… doesn’t.
Soluble fiber helps your poops by absorbing water like a sponge, keeping your poops squishy and easy to pass through your bowels. Without soluble fiber, your poops get hard and you end up constipated.
Insoluble fiber acts like a web or net that holds your poops together as larger pieces. Without insoluble fiber, your poops are *too* soft and it leads to incontinence.
As other comments have mentioned, fiber also feeds some bacteria in your guts that are beneficial in a few ways. One thing they do is break down some of the fiber into nutrients you can use, so you do get *some* nutritional value even though you can’t digest the fiber yourself. Many species don’t directly help you at all, but they’re harmless. They help you indirectly by populating your guts and taking up space so that harmful bacteria can’t move in. The harmless bacteria may even fight off some of the dangerous kinds – not to protect you, but to keep those bacteria from muscling in on their turf.
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