According to the British Nutrition foundation the government in 2015 published new guidelines with a recommendation that the population’s fibre intake should increase to 30g a day for adults (aged 17 years and over).
Age (years) |
Recommended intake of fibre |
| 2-5 | 15g per day |
| 5-11 | 20g per day |
| 11-16 | 25g per day |
| 17 and over | 30g per day |
here is a fun fibre video
According to the British Nutrition Foundation
Fibre helps to keep our digestive system healthy and helps to prevent constipation. For example, fibre bulks up stools, makes stools softer and easier to pass and makes waste move through the digestive tract more quickly.
The European Food Safety Authority suggests that including fibre rich foods in a healthy balanced diet can improve weight maintenance. Dietary fibre can reduce your risk of:
- Cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) and type 2 diabetes
| Foods such as oats and barley contain a type of fibre known as beta glucan, which may help to reduce cholesterol levels if you consume 3g or more of it daily, as part of a healthy diet. |
- Colorectal cancer (bowel cancer)
| Did you know that the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) estimate that 45% of bowel cancer could be prevented through diet, physical activity and weight? |
Fibre and bowel cancer
We know that dietary fibre may help to protect against bowel cancer. Although the reasons for this are not fully understood, this may be because fibre increases stool size, dilutes content and moves it faster through the gut so the amount of time waste products stay in contact with the bowel is reduced. Some types of fibre may also help gut bacteria produce helpful chemicals that can have beneficial effects on the bowel (see below).
Fibre and good bacteria
Research has increasingly shown how important the bacteria in our gut may be to our health, and it has been suggested that a fibre rich diet can help increase the good bacteria in the gut. Some fibre types provide a food source for ‘friendly’ gut bacteria helping them to increase and produce substances which are thought to be protective such as short-chain fatty acids.