All about fibre

High fibre foods can help prevent constipation. Fibre (roughage) helps keep your bowels healthy by making everything move along.

Fibre is found in plant food: wholegrain cereals, fruit and vegetables. It is not digested completely. As fibre travels through the bowel, it soaks up water and makes stools softer.

There are 2 types of fibre:
  1. Insoluble – found mainly in wheat products like wholemeal bread and bran cereals
  2. Soluble – found in fruit, vegetables and pulses like lentils and baked beans

It is healthiest to have a mixture of soluble and insoluble fibre.

Making the most of fibre
  • Increase the amount of fibre you eat slowly. If you suddenly go from eating a very little amount to a lot, you might get a stomach ache
  • Eat fibre-rich foods throughout the day and not just at one meal
  • Be careful you don’t eat too much fibre! This is more of an issue for children than adults. If children eat too much fibre, they can feel full too quickly. It means they don’t get enough calories and nutrients (like vitamins and minerals)
  • Fibre doesn’t do its work unless you drink enough. The fibre in the stools (poo) will only plump up and soften if adequate water is drunk. Children should aim to drink at least 6 – 8 glasses of water (or other drinks) spread throughout the day. 11 glasses a day is about right for boys aged 14 and over. More water is needed in warm weather or when exercising and playing. Water is the best drink, but milk is quite healthy too. Squash and fizzy drinks are best kept to meal times to try to reduce harm to teeth
  • Fruit juice contains little or no fibre. This is one of the reasons why it only counts as one of the five recommended portions of fruit and vegetables per day, however much of it you drink

High fibre foods
  • Wholemeal, wholegrain or granary bread
  • high-fibre white bread (not as much fibre as wholemeal but better than ordinary white bread)
  • wholegrain cereals like bran flakes, bran cereal, breakfast biscuits, muesli and porridge
  • wholemeal pasta
  • brown rice
  • wholemeal scones, muffins and crumpets
  • wholewheat crackers
  • rye crispbreads
  • cereal/muesli bars
  • digestive/bran biscuits
  • oatcakes
  • flapjacks
  • fig rolls
  • fruitcake
  • lentil soup
  • fruit (with skins where appropriate)
  • vegetables
  • pulses, lentils and beans
  • nuts (not recommended for under-5s)

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