Are you eating enough fibre? In Australia, unless you are a toddler or a young boy, you’re probably not (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018). So, what does fibre have to do with chronic diseases? Well, nine of the ten most common chronic diseases in Australia, which affect 49.9% of us (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2023), diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases (National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC], 2017), arthritis (Lui & Xi, 2023, p. 1), asthma (Adrianasolo et al., 2019, p. 1040), kidney disease (Guldris et al., 2022, pp. 1,2&11), osteoporosis (Zhang et al., 2024, p. 2), and mental health problems (Saghafian et al., 2021, p. 1), have all been linked to low-fibre diets (ABS, 2023).
Let’s stop and think about this for a moment, this means, if there are two of you in a room, one of you is likely to have at least one of these diseases. So, what is fibre, and how can it help? Dietary fibre is found in plants, and our bodies use it in many beneficial ways, including maintaining a healthy digestive tract, lowering cholesterol, and regulating blood sugar (NHMRC, 2017). The good news is, there is no upper limit for fibre intake; Australian women need 25g/day, men need 30g/day (NHMRC, 2017), the bad news is, most of us are not meeting those targets (AIHW, 2018). So how do we bump up our fibre intake and kick chronic disease to the kerb? It couldn’t be easier, take a look at the list of foods below and see how simple it is to increase your fibre every day.
Item Serve size Fibre content
Banana 1 medium 3.2g
Avocado 1 cup 5g
Apple, skin on 1 4.8g
Chickpeas, cooked 1/2 cup 6.3g
Lentils, cooked 1/2 cup 7.8g
Green peas, cooked 1 cup 8.8g
Popcorn 3 cups 5.8g
Wholegrain bread 2 slices 2.8g
Boiled potato, skin on 1 small 2.8g
Almonds, skin on 25g 3.0g
Andrianasolo, R. M., Hercberg, S., Kesse-Guyot, E., Druesne-Pecollo, N., Touvier, M., Galan, P., & Varraso, R. (2019). Association between dietary fibre intake and asthma (symptoms and control): results from the French national e-cohort NutriNet-Santé. The British journal of nutrition, 122(9), 1040–1051. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114519001843
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023, December 15). Health conditions prevalence. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/health-conditions-prevalence/latest-release
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018). Nutrition across the life stages. Australian Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/fc5ad42e-08f5-4f9a-9ca4-723cacaa510d/aihw-phe-227.pdf?v=20230605183709&inline=true
Better Health Channel. (2023, December 7). Dietary fibre. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/fibre-in-food
Guldris, C., Latorre Catalá, S., Sanjurjo Amado, J. A., Menéndez Granados, N., & Piñeiro Varela, E. (2022). Fibre Intake in Chronic Kidney Disease: What Fibre Should We Recommend? Nutrients, 14(20), 4419, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14204419
Liu, L., & Xie, S. (2023). Dietary fiber intake associated with risk of rheumatoid arthritis among U.S. adults: NHANES 2010-2020. Medicine, 102(12), e33357, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000033357
National Health and Medical Research Council. (2017). Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Including Recommended Dietary Intakes. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/images/nutrient-refererence-dietary-intakes.pdf
Saghafian, F., Sharif, N., Saneei, P., Keshteli, A. H., Hosseinzadeh-Attar, M. J., Afshar, H., Esmaillzadeh, A., & Adibi, P. (2021). Consumption of Dietary Fiber in Relation to Psychological Disorders in Adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 587468, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.587468
Zhang, L., Zhao, L., Xiao, X., Zhang, X., He, L., & Zhang, Q. (2024). Association of dietary carbohydrate and fiber ratio with postmenopausal bone mineral density and prevalence of osteoporosis: A cross-sectional study. PloS one, 19(2), e0297332, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297332
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