Fibre surge driven by gut health and functional boom

Fibre trend: overview

• Global dietary fibre market forecast to grow 7.2% CAGR by 2033
• Asia Pacific leads fibre adoption while Europe shows significantly lower uptake
• Gut health and functional foods drive increased fibre consumption
• Prebiotic fibres accounted for 66.5% of fibre revenue in 2025
• Fibremaxxing boosts awareness short-term but may create lasting perception shifts

Dietary fibre is, alongside protein, one of the most crucial ingredients in food. Until not long ago, it was comparatively neglected, its association with digestion arguably robbing it of protein’s star quality.

Now, however, fibre is gathering momentum. Propelled by the ‘fibremaxxing’ trend and by the popularity of healthy and functional foods in general, fibre is on the up.

How popular is dietary fibre?

The dietary fibre market is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% between 2026 and 2033, according to market research platform Grand View Research.

Products high in fibre have proliferated and high-fibre claims have ballooned throughout Europe.

According to analytics company Innova Market Insights, fibre’s popularity is strongest in the Asia Pacific region, with 40% of consumers surveyed there saying they increase fibre intake to eat healthily. In Europe, by contrast, only 22% did.

The chief sources of dietary fibre for consumers are fruit and vegetables, according to Innova’s data, with around 73% choosing them as a key fibre source.

Other sources include nuts and seeds, whole grains, pulses and legumes. Interestingly, only 30% of those asked said that they consumed the ingredient from products with added fibre.

Fibre has quickly gone from niche, at least in terms of an ingredient consumers actually prioritise, to mainstream.

Opportunities for food and beverage

The dietary fibre trend is being primarily driven by functional food enthusiasm and the desire for healthy ingredients.

Specifically, fibre trends are “really an extension of gut health trends that initially focused more on pre-and probiotics”, says Mimi Bonnett, senior insights director at Innova.

The slew of information about gut health has centred fibre in consumers’ priorities, she suggests. In an Innova survey, 77% of those who said they wanted to eat more fibre gave gut health as a reason.

According to Grand View Research, prebiotic fibres accounted for 66.5% of fibre’s revenue in 2025.

Consumers gave other reasons for eating more fibre in Innova’s data as well, including weight management (41%), heart health (38%) and satiety (27%).

Functional foods can provide consumers with an alternative to supplementation, suggests Bonnett.

“Functional foods also make supplementation a little easier, a little less painful: eating a bar with added fibre is generally a better experience than taking a fibre supplement, particularly when functional foods also innovate in flavour,” she says.

Fibremaxxing may not last, but it’s changing the narrative around fibre

Meanwhile, while the online fibremaxxing trend – which encourages people to eat as much fibre as possible – has brought prioritising fibre into the mainstream, Bonnett does not predict it will have staying power.

Fibremaxxing has helped “rewrite the narrative about fibre as something unpleasant to consume”, with its ‘uncool’ credentials dissipating once it became an online trend. Fibre was often associated with digestion and, says Bonnett, old fibre supplements often had an unpleasant texture. Now, the ingredient is associated with social media virality.

While ‘maxxing’ trends are often short-lived, Bonnett suggests, the viral trend may have long-term benefits for the ingredient.

Fibre has always been one of the most important ingredients in a diet. Yet now, it is seeing interest like never before, as consumers increasingly gravitate towards foods that can improve their health.