A bulk-forming agent is a substance, such as fiber in food, that adds bulk and water to stools so that they can pass more easily through the intestines (lower part of the digestive tract).
Also known as bulking agents or roughage, these include insoluble dietary fibre. Bulk-producing agents cause the stool to be bulkier and to retain more water, as well as forming an emollient gel, making it easier for peristaltic action to move it along. They should be taken with plenty of water. Bulk-producing agents have the gentlest of effects among laxatives and can be taken just for maintaining regular bowel movements.
Read more about Bulk-forming Agent: Stool Softeners, Lubricants or Emollient, Hydrating Agents (osmotics), Stimulant or Irritant, Serotonin Agonist, Chloride Channel Activators, Uses, Historical & Non-mainstream Medical Use
Famous quotes containing the word agent:
“... in doing our psychology, we want to attribute mental states fully opaquely because it’s the fully opaque reading which tells us what the agent has in mind, and it’s what the agent has in mind that causes his behavior.”
—Jerry Alan Fodor (b. 1935)