We are nearly at an end of our 10 part series on fibre, the gut, and the gut microbiome, with this blog.
In summary: we have discovered that plant-foods and their fibre contents are vitally important in ensuring the diversity and function of trillions of micro-organisms inhabiting our gut, mostly the large colon.
This symbiosis (mutually beneficial partnership) between our bodies and our microscopic inhabitants has multiple benefits – particularly in maintaining a healthy immune system, suppressing chronic inflammation, preventing diseases like diabetes type 2, heart disease, auto-immune diseases, obesity, blood pressure, certain cancers and even neuro-developmental conditions in children, and degenerative brain conditions in adults.
One of the greatest nutritional deficiencies in the Westernised world is not a deficiency of protein, or fat, or carbohydrates – it is fibre.
Fibre, in its many forms, is vital to nourish our microbiome, as well as keep our intestinal environment healthy and active. Some of the most important biological contributors of the microbiome to the host are short-chain fatty acids – acetate, butyrate and propionate – which have multiple effects in maintaining the health of many organs in the body.
When we eat highly processed foods, and particularly foods rich in animal products, we ingest far too little dietary fibre.
This results in a starving and dysfunctional microbiome, and deficiency of the beneficial byproducts of a normal microbiome. It is no wonder that we have such high levels of lifestyle-related chronic diseases in epidemic proportions.
It has variously been reported that only between 3-5% of Americans get sufficient dietary fibre. The recommendation is 25 gms for women and 38 gms for men. Most Americans only get around 15 gms per day.
Commercial producers are catching on to the new enthusiasm for fibre and are beginning to add synthetic fibre or isolated fibre to low-fibre foods.
Isolated fibres can be found on nutrition labels in the form of resistant starch, polydextrose, indigestible dextrins, and inulin.
However most nutritional experts warn that these are not the same as naturally occurring dietary fibre, as they also have been stripped of many substances that work in sync with the original product.
This is similar to processing a natural grain to the point where it is mostly just refined starch and then throwing a bunch of vitamins and minerals in and calling it “fortified”.
Another illustration is like stripping a car down to its chassis and engine and wheels, then putting some seats back and calling it a “fortified” car.
It is always beneficial to look at food labels on the back of the package.
All nutrients are expressed in the first column per 100 gm – this allows you to compare between different products. The second column gives the amounts per average serving – often 40 or 30 gms.
What is important to notice is that highly processed foods tend to be much lighter, with more concentrated nutrients. So you may find that cornflakes have a higher amount of fibre per 100 gm, compared to oats, but then when you realise that most of the water has been extracted from the cornflakes, so that it is lighter and thus per gram it may have a higher concentration of fibre.
However if you have a meal of the various cereals, you will get more fibre from the less processed foods. A small amount of raw oats will expand to a big meal with cooking, giving you a much more satisfying and long lasting meal than the processed versions.
Also there may a significant difference in fibre content between different brands of the same products.
For instance a loaf of white bread from one producer may have 1 gm per 100 gms; another 4,0 gms/100 gms and another 6,3 gms/100 gms.
Similarly one loaf of brown bread may have 2,7 gms fibre/100 gms and another 7,0 gms/100 gms.
Here is the result of an hour in a supermarket checking the fibre content in some of the common foods. This is by no means a scientific study:
| Different foods | Gms fibre Per 100 gms |
| White bread | Between 1-6,3 |
| Brown bread | Between 2,7-7,0 |
| Wholewheat bread | 7,9 |
| Seeded wholewheat bread | 9,1 |
| Breakfast Cereals | |
| Steel-cut Oats | 9,4 |
| Quick oats | Between 9,1-11,0 |
| Pronutro | 8,4 |
| Maltabella porridge | 10,7 |
| Choco-puffs | 6,6 |
| Coco-pops | 6,5 |
| Rice Crispies | 2,2 |
| Nestle Milo | 8,2 |
| Oatees | 4,3 |
| Pure Earth corn | 3,3 |
| Weetbix | 11,9 |
| Nutrific | 11,6 |
| Cornflakes | Between 2,3 and 10,0 |
| All-bran Hi Bulk | 27,0 |
| All-bran Flakes | 22,5 |
| Muesli | Between 6-9,4 |
| Tinned Foods | |
| Asparagus spears | 1,2 |
| Baked beans | 4,0 |
| Black beans | 11,9 |
| Chick peas | 6,1 |
| Creamed corn | 1,8 |
| Red kidney beans | 10,0 |
| Tinned green beans | 2,3 |
| Tinned peas | 3,4 |
| Corned meat | <1,0 |
| Pilchards | <1,0 |
| Sardines | <1,0 |
| Pasta | |
| Gnocchi | 7,6 |
| Macaroni | 5,7 but variable |
| Spaghetti | 5,7 |
| High fibre fusilli | 4,9 |
| High fibre macaroni | 7,1 |
| Wholewheat fusilli | 7,0 |
| Wholewheat spaghetti | 7,0 |
| Instant noodles | 1,0 |
| Dairy products | |
| Milk | 0 |
| Yoghurt | 0 |
| Cheese – depends on variety | Between 0-2,3 |
| Meat products unless has soya mix | Almost no fibre |
| Vegetarian “meat” look-alikes | |
| Fry’s burgers | 15 |
| Fry’s sausages | 2,1 |
| Linda McCartney’s chicken nuggets | 5,8 |
| Linda McCartney’s sausage | 5,0 |
| Vejoy burgers | 4,9 |
| Fruit | Per serving gms |
| Apple medium with skin | 3,0 |
| Banana medium | 3,0 |
| Grapes medium bunch | 0,9 |
| Orange medium | 3,0 |
| Pear medium | 5,5 |
| Strawberries 1 cup | 3,0 |
| Mango | 5,0 |
| Persimmon (Sharon fruit) | 6.0 |
| Tangerines (naartjies) | 1,8 per 100 gms |
| Vegetables | |
| Boiled green peas 1 cup | 9,0 |
| Broccoli boiled 1 cup chopped | 5,0 |
| Brussels sprouts, 1 cup boiled | 4,0 |
| Carrot 1 medium | 1,5 |
| Cauliflower 1 cup chopped raw | 2,0 |
| Potato medium baked with skin | 4,0 |
| Sweetcorn, boiled 1 cup | 3,5 |
This is by no means an exhaustive list. These are some common foods available here on the South Coast. You can find any number of lists on the internet that are more exhaustive. Here is one.
It would be helpful for you to make a list of your daily intake and then use the above or similar list to work out how much fibre you actually ingest. You may be surprised how little.
Of course if you adopt the recommendations of 5-8 fruits and vegetables per day, together with some whole grains and legumes, you will probably have no difficulty achieving that.
It may be a good idea to gradually increase your intake of fibre, rather than adopt it wholeheartedly all in one day.
Your gut microbiome has to change to the new bonanza, and if overwhelmed may give you some nasty side effects like bloating and gas. However if you gradually increase these foods, your microbiome will adapt and you will be fine.
Next week we will talk about the controversial subject of gluten/wheat intolerance. Is it real or just another fad?
Stay well until next week. The storm is approaching and we need more than ever to take implement the rules of prevention – social distancing, wearing masks, avoiding unnecessary interaction with others, washing hands or sanitising very frequently and avoiding touching eyes and nose with unwashed hands.
Kind regards,
Dave Glass
Dr David Glass graduated from UCT in 1975. He spent the next 12 years working at a mission hospital in Lesotho, where much of his work involved health education and interventions to improve health, aside from the normal busy clinical work of an under-resourced mission hospital.
He returned to UCT in 1990 to specialise in obstetrics/gynaecology and then moved to the South Coast where he had the privilege of, amongst other things, ushering 7000 babies into the world. He no longer delivers babies but is still very clinically active in gynaecology.
An old passion, preventive health care, has now replaced the obstetrics side of his work. He is eager to share insights he has gathered over the years on how to prevent and reverse so many of the modern scourges of lifestyle – obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, common cancers, etc.
He is a family man, with a supportive wife, and two grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. His hobbies include walking, cycling, vegetable gardening, bird-watching, travelling and writing. He is active in community health outreach and deeply involved in church activities. He enjoys teaching and sharing information.
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