Question

Taking the examples of whole grain atta, fruit and green leafy vegetables, describe how roughage in our diet is useful.

Answer 1

The cells of all plants have cell walls made of cellulose. It is not digested in our alimentary canal as we have no cellulose-digesting enzyme. The undigested cellulose being fibrous in nature acts as roughage.

Role of roughage: Being fibrous, cellulose absorbs a lot of water and retains it, thus helps in keeping the faecal matter soft and prevents constipation. The movement of undigested food becomes easier. It stimulates the muscle contraction in the intestinal wall, making the movement of faecal matter easy. It helps in the removal of cholesterol. So, whole grain atta, green leafy vegetables and fruits are plant sources that are efficient sources of roughage.