Fibre facts
Dietary fibre helps keep our digestive tract in good working order and can help reduce high blood cholesterol and keep blood sugar levels stable.
Yet studies suggest that most of us aren’t getting anything like enough. In fact, 80% of people don’t eat enough fibre, a trend that often starts in childhood and carries through to our adult life.
What is fibre?
Despite the fact that it passes through the digestive tract largely untouched, fibre plays an important role in helping us stay fit and healthy.
The term fibre (or roughage as it used to be known) describes not just one, but a number of compounds, all of which are found in plant-based foods such as cereals, fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses.
Fibre can be divided into two groups - insoluble and soluble. Both groups help keep the body healthy in a different way.
Insoluble fibre, which is found mainly in wholegrain cereals but also in fruit, vegetables and pulses, helps prevent constipation and related problems such as haemorrhoids (piles) and diverticular disease. It works by absorbing water making the stools larger, softer and easier to pass.
Sometimes referred to as ‘nature’s broom’, insoluble fibre also speeds the passage of waste material through the body. The quicker waste materials are excreted, the less time potentially harmful substances have to linger in the bowel.
Soluble fibre, found in oats and oat bran, beans and pulses and some fruit and vegetables, helps lower high blood cholesterol levels and slow the absorption of sugar into the blood stream.
Because all high fibre foods are more filling than their fibre depleted counterparts, they also slow down the speed at which your stomach empties, helping you to feel fuller for longer. So fibre is great if you’re trying to lose weight as well.
The Guideline Daily Amount for fibre is 25g for adults and 15g for children aged between 5-10 years. Most of us need to increase our current fibre intake by about 50% in order to reach this target.
Did you know?
One bowl (30g) of Kellogg's Bran Flakes provides 4.5g fibre, which is 18% of the GDA for an adult.