This is a work in progress. I will come back to it every now and then when I have time and feel like it and complete/change/correct what I wrote. Any and all comments, in the comment section or by e-mail, are welcome.
There are a lot of claims about fibre on the Internet. Most are unproven, guesswork or pure fantasy. That said, we do know that it seems to be in our best interest to consume foods that contain fibre.
Fibre can be found in foods of plant origin. However, claims regarding plants are often over-simplified, resulting in less than trustworthy or even laughable (dis)information.
One oft-heard claim is that vegetables are full of fibre. While it is undeniably so that there is fibre in vegetables, they are certainly not full of them.
For example, in this CBC documentary (Debunking diet secrets and weight loss: The Answer Might be in Your Gut) about the microbiome, we can hear Jeff Leach of American Gut make the claim that leeks are full of fibre. That claim is nonsense.
According to the USDA, there is 1.8 g of fibre in 100 g of leeks. According to the dietitians of Canada, someone my age needs 30 g of fibre a day. That means I would need to eat a whopping 1.667 kg leeks to just meet and not even exceed recommendations. I do not think that is particularly realistic.
It would obviously be in my best interest to eat other plants beside leeks, but such a comparison helps to put seemingly plausible claims into perspective.
*****
Please note that I make no health claims and no nutritional claims. There are enough alternologists and quacks on the Internet already and I have no intention of joining them.
I sincerely encourage you to talk to an actual medical doctor or registered dietitian before making any health- or nutrition-related decisions.
If I made any mistakes in this post, please *do* feel free to point them out to me.
There are a lot of claims about fibre on the Internet. Most are unproven, guesswork or pure fantasy. That said, we do know that it seems to be in our best interest to consume foods that contain fibre.
Fibre can be found in foods of plant origin. However, claims regarding plants are often over-simplified, resulting in less than trustworthy or even laughable (dis)information.
One oft-heard claim is that vegetables are full of fibre. While it is undeniably so that there is fibre in vegetables, they are certainly not full of them.
For example, in this CBC documentary (Debunking diet secrets and weight loss: The Answer Might be in Your Gut) about the microbiome, we can hear Jeff Leach of American Gut make the claim that leeks are full of fibre. That claim is nonsense.
According to the USDA, there is 1.8 g of fibre in 100 g of leeks. According to the dietitians of Canada, someone my age needs 30 g of fibre a day. That means I would need to eat a whopping 1.667 kg leeks to just meet and not even exceed recommendations. I do not think that is particularly realistic.
It would obviously be in my best interest to eat other plants beside leeks, but such a comparison helps to put seemingly plausible claims into perspective.
*****
Please note that I make no health claims and no nutritional claims. There are enough alternologists and quacks on the Internet already and I have no intention of joining them.
I sincerely encourage you to talk to an actual medical doctor or registered dietitian before making any health- or nutrition-related decisions.
If I made any mistakes in this post, please *do* feel free to point them out to me.
Comments
Post a Comment