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According to a new study, people whose diet includes both natural and manufacturing-added fiber may benefit most. Not just the people who eat either single type.
In any case, Americans do not get enough fiber, according to recommendations. People should get 38 grams (men) and 28 grams (women) per day, but we only get around 18 and 15.
“The real problem is we don’t know we have a problem,” Julie Miller Jones, Ph.D, LN, CNS, professor emeritus at St. Catherine University. “When you don’t know you have a problem, you don’t know how to address it. Thirty-five percent of the people in this country think we are getting enough fiber. So we really have a big job in terms of communication, in terms of telling people we aren’t getting enough fiber.”
Basing her conclusions on recent science, Jones said that people should eat both fiber that has been added by manufacturing (bread, cereal, yogurt, pasta) as well as the produce many people turn to for fiber.
Jones said that different foods have different types of fiber, and each has their own unique benefits.
“We can’t expect all fibers to have the same functions, just like we don’t expect all vitamins to have the same functions,” she said.
