The popularity of dietary fibre is growing. On-pack claims are increasing, and have gone up significantly over the past five years. More recently, the ingredient has become the subject of an online trend – ‘fibremaxxing’ – which centres around putting as much fibre as possible into a meal.
Fibre is most well-known for its benefits to digestive health. But there are other areas that the ingredient excels in, which fewer consumers know about.
“Historically, fibre has been associated primarily with digestive health. While that’s absolutely an important benefit, its positive impact on health goes far beyond digestive wellness alone,“ explains Kristie Leigh, RD, director of nutrition and scientific affairs at Danone North America.
Dietary fibre is, according to Harvard Health, found not in supplements but only in foods.
Fibre is good for heart health
Fibre can help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type-2 diabetes, stroke and bowel cancer, according to the UK’s National Health Service.
In particular, fibre is good at improving heart health and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Soluble fibre, which is found in foods such as oats and fruit, can “help support heart health by preventing some of the cholesterol in other foods from being absorbed, thereby lowering LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol, and slow the absorption of sugar to help promote more stabilised blood sugar levels,” explains Leigh.
In 2019, a Lancet study showed that, alongside a range of other benefits, a high-fibre diet decreased cholesterol and brought down the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Soluble fibre slows down digestion
Soluble fibre becomes a thick gel in the intestines, according to Harvard Health, which can slow down digestion and movement of food through the system (known as ‘gastric emptying’).
It is because of this that fibre has the ability to increase satiety, the feeling of being full.
Prebiotic fibre can improve gut health
Prebiotics are well known as a key component in gut health. Prebiotic fibre, found in a range of foods including cereal grains, algae, dairy and meat, is a type of soluble fibre and as its name suggests, it has strong gut-health benefits.
Prebiotics are “more like fertilisers”, explains the researcher Glenn Gibson, who coined the term. Rather than adding microorganisms to the gut, as probiotics do, they act as food for those microorganisms already indigenous to it.
“Research suggests the impact of the gut microbiome on health is incredibly far-reaching, from benefits to our digestive system to benefits to our immune system, mental health and more,” explains Leigh.
Too much fibre can lead to discomfort
There are, of course, limits to the amount of fibre consumers should be having.
“The main risk” from adding too much fibre to a diet is “the abdominal discomfort that can result from adding it too quickly,” explains Leigh. This can be especially potent if the body isn’t used to it.
