What's the meaning"the step to a laxative effect is thus small."?

Question

Dietary fibers, in general, are known and rewarded for their properties of stool softening; the step to a laxative effect is thus small.

Answer 1

They mean if you increase the fibre in your diet a little bit more you'll basically get diarrhoea

Fibre basically takes in water in your colon and swells into a mucilage first which when mixed into the dry stool softens it. If you take enough fibre and drink enough water it would swell up enough to stretch the colon ( like a ballon with air) which reacts by contracting rhythmically ( peristalsis) to then eject the bolus of stool out of you ( laxative effect)

The basic problem with fibre treatments is you have to drink loads of water which a lot of people hate.( especially old people who might have bladder instability and secretly fear having an accident if they drink too much). If you don't drink enough water they hard the stool even more.

The basic problem with constipation is mainly psychological...embarrassed to be seen going to the toilet too much, convinced they need to pass stool only once daily or problems about using dirty public toilets. Once you suppress the urge to defecate the stool in your r****m rapidly dries out and "plugs" up the r****m a bit so you're constipated. It comes down to the original potty training and how our concepts of going to the toilet form in our minds( my own opinion)

Answer 2

This means that it doesnt take a lot of ditary fibre to produce a laxative effect, i.e, the relieving of constipation, loosening of the bowels, of, more straight fowardly, easier to go to the toilet.

The stool softening is the softening of the faeces, thus relieving the constipation as the evacuation is less forced and easier