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nutrition

Fibermaxxing — deliberately pushing daily dietary fibre well above conventional recommendations — has seen search interest rise roughly 115 per cent this year. Most viral nutrition trends deserve scepticism. This one is unusual, because the direction it points in is well supported: most people in high-income countries eat far less fibre than any credible guideline suggests, and the health consequences of that gap are large and well documented.

• Soluble fibre — oats, legumes, apples, psyllium — forms a gel that slows glucose absorption and binds bile acids, lowering LDL cholesterol.
• Insoluble fibre — wheat bran, vegetable skins, nuts — adds stool bulk and reduces transit time.
• Fermentable fibre feeds gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, notably butyrate, which is the primary fuel source for colon lining cells.
• Resistant starch, found in cooled cooked potatoes, rice and legumes, behaves like fermentable fibre and is the most commonly overlooked category.