The fibre gap, in numbers
How much fibre adults are advised to eat, how much they actually eat, and what 6 g looks like beside both.
By The Pop Journal3 min read
The 60-second sip
- Adults are advised to eat 25 g of fibre a day in the European Union, 28 g in the United States and 30 g in the United Kingdom.
- Most people fall well short. In the United Kingdom the average adult eats about 20 g.
- In the United States more than 90 per cent of women and 97 per cent of men do not reach the advised amount.
- Fibre comes from plants: vegetables, fruit, pulses and whole grains. A drink can add to that. It cannot stand in for it.
Fibre is the one part of the diet that almost every health authority tells people to eat more of, and that almost nobody eats enough of. The numbers are worth knowing, because they are the yardstick for every “high in fibre” claim on a shelf.
What is advised
- 25 g
- a day, European Union
- 28 g
- a day, United States labels
- 30 g
- a day, United Kingdom
The figures differ a little because each body weighed the evidence in its own way. They agree on the size of it: for an adult, somewhere between 25 and 30 g every day.
What is eaten
In the United Kingdom the health service puts the average adult's intake at about 20 g a day: two thirds of the target. In the United States the government's own dietary guidelines state that more than 90 per cent of women and 97 per cent of men do not meet the recommended intake.
Where fibre is found
Fibre is a part of plants, so it is found in food that is still recognisably a plant: vegetables, fruit with its skin, beans, lentils and chickpeas, oats, wholemeal bread, nuts and seeds. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy contain none.
Where a drink fits
A soda with fibre in it adds to the day's total. Six grams, the amount of fibre added to a bottle of Goli Pop, is about a fifth of what an adult is advised to eat. The rest still has to come from a plate.
Where this comes from
- European Food Safety Authority: dietary reference values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre
- US Food and Drug Administration: Daily Values
- NHS: how to get more fibre into your diet
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020 to 2025
Last checked against these sources on .