Dietary Fibre

Dietary fibre is the part of plant food the small intestine cannot digest. It comes in soluble forms (oats, legumes, fruit) and insoluble forms (whole grains, vegetables), and most adults in Western countries eat less than published targets.

What published research reports

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans identify fibre as a nutrient of public health concern and set adequate-intake targets of roughly 25–34 g per day for adults, scaled to calorie intake. For one specific fibre, a 2014 meta-analysis of 28 randomised trials in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that around 3 g per day of oat beta-glucan lowers LDL cholesterol by about 0.25 mmol/L without changing HDL — the finding behind the authorised oat health claims that appear on packaging.

References

• US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025. dietaryguidelines.gov
• Whitehead A, et al. Cholesterol-lowering effects of oat β-glucan: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;100(6):1413–1421. PubMed