“Eating more fiber is good for your health.”
Eating more fiber is good for your health.
If your diet is low in fiber, adding more fiber-rich foods is a well-supported step for long-term health. WHO's target of at least 25 grams a day for adults is a useful benchmark.
Swap one refined grain food for a whole grain or bean dish this week, then keep adding fiber slowly, a few grams a day, to avoid gas and bloating.
Talk to a healthcare professional if: you have a bowel condition such as irritable bowel syndrome, or new or lasting bloating, pain or changes in bowel habits after adding fiber.
Most of the disease evidence comes from large cohort studies that followed people for many years, which is the right design for disease risk over decades, and the results are consistent and follow a dose-response pattern, meaning risk keeps falling as fiber goes up. Randomized trials back this up, showing that eating more fiber lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and body weight.
Eating more fiber is good for your health. People who eat the most fiber have 15 to 30 percent lower rates of early death, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer than people who eat the least, and trials that raise fiber intake lower blood pressure, cholesterol and body weight.
The evidence mostly comes from fiber in foods such as whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruit. The main review left out trials of fiber supplements, so it does not show whether a powder or pill gives the same benefits. The biggest risk reductions were seen at 25 to 29 grams a day, and the review's data pointed to even more benefit at higher intakes.
- Reynolds A, Mann J, Cummings J, Winter N, Mete E, Te Morenga L. Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Lancet. 2019;393(10170):434-445. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31809-9. PMID: 30638909
- World Health Organization. WHO updates guidelines on fats and carbohydrates (news release on "Carbohydrate intake for adults and children: WHO guideline", ISBN 978-92-4-007359-3). 17 July 2023
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Eating, Diet, & Nutrition for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Last reviewed November 2017