Changing our food patterns
In society today we are incredibly busy and often decide to reach for convenience foods to help fuel our bodies. There are also many ‘diets’ that have gained a lot of media attention with some particularly focusing on one food type and eliminating the others. It can be confusing at times to understand what is actually good for our bodies and who to believe!
In the short and simplest terms - we should aim to eat a varied and well balanced diet. This means having a variation of foods, in particular whole foods. All food groups must be included in order to receive the correct amount of macro (Fat/Carbs/Protein) and micronutrients (Vitamins/Minerals).At BiaSol we believe we need to shift away from highly processed foods as we know these are causing health issues. Experts and health professionals strongly advise eating natural wholefoods.
Over the next few blog posts, I (Niamh) will be focusing on Fibre and highlighting the evidence for the links between dietary fibre and health. Protein has gained so much media attention over the last few years mainly due to the interest in Ketogenic dieting and prior to that, Carbs received bad press due to the Atkins diet which began in the 1960s. However, what really needs to be addressed more so than ‘fad diets’, is increasing our fibre consumption and what it can do for our bodies.
‘Fibre is the new protein’
Government policy over the last number of years has been focused on lowering the amounts of sugar, salt and calories we consume and there has been very little education or focus on what foods or nutrients our bodies actually need more of. A recent study in the UK found only 9% of adults meet the recommended amount of fibre (FDF 2021). The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for fibre for adults is 24-35g (Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute 2016).
From my research it is evident that in developed western countries the general population is falling well below the recommended amount of fibre. For example in the US, it is estimated that the population only consumes 12-18 grams per day. In Europe it varies, Italy consumes the most whereas UK and Sweden consume the least amount of fibre. On the other hand in Africa, fibre is consumed at more than 50grams per day and the result of this- less chronic inflammatory disorders (eg: Diabetes, IBD, asthma, obesity, alzehimers, arthritis & cancer) (O’Grady, J. O’Connor, E. Shanahan, F. 2019).
From the above it is clear that fibre is important and that we should aim to increase it in our diets. I will demonstrate using scientific literature why fibre can act as preventative medicine. I think the majority of the population would agree (except big pharma companies) that preventive measures for healthy living are better than prescriptive ones. Over the next few blogs I will cover the relationship between fibre and
Healthy heart
Diabetes
Cholesterol
Weight management
Stroke
Colorectal cancer
Food and Drink Federation. (2021). FDF Action on Fibre [online]. Available from: https://www.fdf.org.uk/globalassets/what-we-do/diet-and-health/action-on-fibre/fibre/action-on-fibre-polling-summary.pdf/ [accessed 8th January 2022].
Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute. (2016). Fabulous fibre fact sheet [online] Available from: https://www.indi.ie/images/fact_sheets/Fabulous_fibre_fact_sheet_2.pdf [accessed 9th January 2022].
O’Grady, J. O’Connor, E. Shanahan, F. (2019).Review article: dietary fibre in the era of microbiome science [online] Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apt.15129/ [accessed 9th January 2022].