TANYA HAFFNER is a dietitian and the director of the Nutrilicious food and health consultancy;
nutrilicious.co.uk Since the F-Plan diet in the 1980s, and the days when it was known as ‘roughage’, we’ve learnt a lot more about fibre and its importance to health. Apart from helping keep us ‘regular’, aiding digestion and preventing constipation, a high-fibre diet has been linked to a lower risk of stroke, heart disease and bowel cancer, so it’s vital to get the message out there that fibre is seriously important. Especially as most of us aren’t getting anywhere near enough in our diets.
What we should be getting
The UK National Diet and Nutrition survey shows that since 2008-9 the average consumption of fibre has hovered at around 17g a day for females aged 19-64, and 20g a day for males. It’s far below the recommended daily intake: the Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) 2015 Carbohydrates And Health report suggests a daily intake of fibre of 30g a day for all adults. This means the average woman should increase her fibre intake by a whopping 75 per cent.