Dietary fibre should be classed “essential nutrient” for good health

John Cummings, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Gastroenterology at Dundee’s Faculty of Health, is among the experts calling for dietary fibre to be officially recognised internationally as the first ‘new’ essential nutrient in more than 50 years.

The researchers say fibre should sit alongside nutrients already considered essential for humans, such as certain amino acids and vitamins. The research has been published in the journal Nature Food.

To be recognised as essential, a nutrient must be beneficial to human health, not be produced by the body itself and with the absence of the nutrient resulting in a measurable detrimental impact on a person. Professor Cummings, who co-authored the research, says that an increase in an individual’s dietary fibre intake could deliver significant health benefits, above that of any other essential nutrient.

“While everyone knows that fibre is good for us, its importance is often overlooked,” he said.

“For many people, their diet is formed from processed foods where the fibre content is largely removed. Foods such as oats, whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables have a good nutritional profile, but if you add in fibre then they have an outstandingly good profile.

“I have been working on dietary fibre and writing papers about it for more than 50 years and yet there has never been a huge surge in public fibre intake. That is why current UK fibre intake remains well below recommended levels.

“This research has been published to help stimulate debate and highlight just how vital to their health dietary fibre intake is.

“If we can encourage more awareness of fibre’s importance throughout the public, then food manufacturers and policy makers may be compelled to make changes or reformulate products that could result in significant health benefits for the public.”

There has been growing interest in fibre intake and its associated health benefits. Despite this, the 2025 National Diet and Nutrition Survey revealed that just 4% of UK adults met the government’s 30g per day recommendation.

This new research has been produced by Professor Cummings alongside Associate Professor Andrew Reynolds and Professor Sir Jim Mann, both from the Otago Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre, and Gerald Tannock, University of Otago, who argue that recent advances in our understanding of dietary fibre means it now meets criteria to be considered an essential nutrient.

Dr Reynolds says the research team examined if there were any causal associations between dietary fibre intake and health outcomes and found overwhelming evidence of benefit. 

“Looking across multiple studies, we see that when people increase fibre intakes, their body weight, cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressure all improve,” he said. 

“When following people over decades, we see those with higher fibre intakes get less heart disease, less type 2 diabetes, less colorectal cancer, and are less likely to die prematurely.

“Focusing on increasing intakes of high-fibre foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables and whole fruit is likely to deliver substantial health benefits.”

Co-author Professor Sir Jim Mann added, “The gut microbiome exists almost exclusively on the dietary fibre we eat. A healthy gut microbiome is linked to all sorts of health benefits, with more discovered and understood each day.

“Increased intakes of fibre, which would be expected with greater awareness, have the potential to appreciably reduce the huge global burden of non-communicable diseases.”