Fibremaxxing? Go Slowly for Best Results

Fibremaxxing?

Are you fibremaxxing already? Or are you interested in it?

If you've escaped the social media driven trend, it is a potentially rather positive encouragement to simply eat more fibre, with lots of people sharing how they go about it.

Dietary fibre is linked to multiple long-term health benefits

25 to 35 grams of dietary fibre daily has consensus for a strong protective effect against multiple chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Meta-analyses, looking at many human trials, suggest that intakes greater than 30 grams daily are superior to 25-29 grams daily (paper linked in comments)

Set against this, the average UK daily fibre intake is estimated around 18-20 grams and US around 10-16 grams.

When increasing, go slowly for best results

Benefitting from increased fibre intake requires time to adapt and doing it gradually reduces the risk of gas, bloating & discomfort.

If you have ever purposefully increased your fibre intake, you may well have experienced some rather unpleasant effects - gas, bloating, discomfort.

A human randomized controlled trial looked at increasing fibre intake via a supplement, going up to 25-35 grams fibre per day, then monitoring symptoms such as flatulence over six weeks.

It very nicely illustrates some key points explaining initial distress AND some very simple action points to mitigate the unpleasant effects in order to get to the benefits.

📍 Key Points📍

👉Increasing dietary fibre, via food or supplement, prompts adaptation in the form of changes to gut bacteria AND what those gut bacteria are doing i.e., fermenting & producing metabolites

👉Adaptation takes place over weeks, with the worst symptoms in the first week

👉By week three functional adaptation is progressing and by week six, full adaptation can be reached  - of course, this absolutely varies by individual.

👉Whilst the dietary starting point and gut bacteria profile determines initial symptoms, most people, or rather their gut bacteria, can successfully adapt

🎯 Actionable Insights🎯

👉 Increase fibre intake slowly e.g. 5 grams

👉Hold each incremental step for a week to enable adaptation to progress

👉Be as consistent as possible, don’t cycle intake up and down

👉If your starting fibre intake is very low, say the lower end of the average intakes, go even more slowly with the increases

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