Beware the ‘fibre gap’: Almost all Britons’ diets contain ‘dangerous’ lack of key nutrient that combats bowel cancer and cardiovascular disease

Nine out of ten Britons don’t know they are missing out on a key nutrient that can combat bowel cancer and cardiovascular disease, a survey revealed.

The research by gut health company ZOE quizzed 2,000 people and exposed what it termed a ‘dangerous fibre-gap’.

The survey from ZOE also revealed that fewer than one in four people correctly identified an unhealthy diet as being the leading cause of preventable deaths.

Under NHS guidance, adults should eat at least 30g of fibre a day. But only 5 per cent of adults meet that recommendation, with the average person consuming just over half that amount.

High-fibre diets are associated with a 15 to 30 per cent reduction in the risks of premature death, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. 

Its health benefits are confirmed by a review commissioned by the World Health Organisation and published in The Lancet.

The charity Bowel Cancer UK says a lack of fibre – the indigestible parts of plants that help digestion – is behind an alarming 28 per cent of all bowel cancer cases in the UK.

Professor Tim Spector, scientific co-founder of ZOE, said: ‘The findings of this survey are a wake-up call for a nation trapped in a broken food system.

‘We are facing a dangerous ‘fibre-gap’ that is fuelling chronic illness, yet the public is being left to navigate a confusing, ultra-processed environment.

‘It is staggering that despite poor diet overtaking smoking as the leading cause of preventable death, fewer than a quarter of adults recognise the danger on their plates.’