What is fibre?

Fibre is made up of a number of complex carbohydrates. There are two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble. There are no calories, vitamins or minerals in fibre and it is not digested when we eat it.

Where is it found?

Fibre is only found in the cell walls of plants. Foods such as meat, fish and dairy products contain no fibre at all.

What does fibre do?

Fibre is essential for healthy bowel function. When fibre passes through the bowel it absorbs a lot of water, so it increases the bulk of the waste matter. This also makes the waste softer and increases the speed and ease with which it passes through the bowel.

Why is fibre important?

A diet rich in fibre has many health benefits. It reduces the risk of a number of bowel problems - some of them quite serious. These include constipation, haemorrhoids (piles), diverticular disease and cancer of the colon or large bowel.

In addition, soluble fibre helps to stabilise blood sugar levels because it slows down the rate at which glucose is absorbed into the blood stream. It also helps to lower blood cholesterol levels, which is important for reducing the risk of heart disease.

Furthermore the feeling of fullness which fibre produces can help people who are trying to lose weight to control their appetite.

How much fibre should we eat?

In the UK most people eat far too little fibre, on average about 12 grams a day or less. Ideally, adults should aim for an intake of around 18 grams a day, or even a little more. Eating more than 32 grams of fibre a day do not offer any additional health benefits.

A word of caution: if you would like to increase your fibre intake from a relatively low level, it is best to do it gradually. This is because a sudden increase may produce wind, bloating and stomach cramps - which can be rather uncomfortable for a little while. A gradual increase will avoid this problem.

What foods contain fibre?

All plant-based foods will contain fibre. Some more so than others. Good sources of fibre are fruit, vegetables, wholegrain rice and pasta, wholemeal bread, many breakfast cereals, nuts, seeds and bran.

Particularly good sources of soluble fibre are fruit, vegetables, beans and oats.

Q I’ve noticed a lot of foods contain hydrogenated fat. Is this bad for my diet?

A As you’ve already discovered, many processed foods contain hydrogenated fat or hydrogenated vegetable oil and these ingredients certainly contribute to the calorie content of a food, often making it unsuitable if you’re trying to lose weight. But worse than this, foods containing these ingredients also contain trans fats – and these are thought to be as harmful to heart health as saturated fat.

Ironically, it’s the processing of pure vegetable oils – a good source of heart-friendly unsaturates – that creates harmful trans fats! During manufacturing, these liquid oils have hydrogen bubbled through them in a process called hydrogenation to improve their texture, flavour and shelf life. The resulting product is a more solid fat, called hydrogenated fat or hydrogenated vegetable oil, which goes on to be used as an ingredient in many processed foods.

Unfortunately, there are no legal requirements for food manufacturers to label trans fats and few choose to do so. This means for now, you need to scour ingredients lists for hydrogenated fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils. If a food product contains either, it will almost certainly contain trans fats, too – and the higher up the list the ingredient appears, the more trans fats the product will contain.

In general though, trans fats are found in cakes, biscuits, margarines, takeaways, pastry, pies and fried foods – and as you know, these are the foods you should be eating less of anyway if you want to lose weight!

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