Walk down the supplements aisle and you will be sold a dozen things you probably do not need. Meanwhile the nutrient most of us are genuinely short on sits unglamorously in the bread and vegetable aisles. It is fibre, and it does a remarkable amount of work.
What fibre actually does
Fibre is the part of plant food we cannot digest, which sounds useless until you learn what it gets up to on the way through. It feeds the bacteria in your gut, steadies your blood sugar, helps keep cholesterol in check, and keeps your digestion moving. Diets high in it are linked to lower rates of heart disease and bowel cancer.
Most adults are advised to get around thirty grams a day. Most of us manage closer to twenty. That gap is quietly significant.
Closing the gap
You do not need a powder. You need slightly different versions of food you already eat.
- Wholemeal bread and pasta instead of white
- Beans or lentils added to soups, stews and bolognese
- Leaving the skin on potatoes and apples
- Oats for breakfast, which are cheap and filling
- A handful of nuts as a snack
One useful habit: add beans to something you already cook. A tin stirred into a chilli or a curry barely changes the taste and quietly does the job.
A gentle warning
If your diet is currently low in fibre, build up slowly and drink enough water, or your gut will protest loudly. Done gradually, more fibre is one of the cheapest and most effective changes you can make, and it never once needed a supplement to do it.