Feeding Your Gut From the Plate
Onions, garlic, leeks, oats, beans, lentils, slightly green bananas and cooled potatoes or rice are the everyday sources of the fibres
12 August 2026Read →
Inulin, resistant starch and FODMAPs — what the research used, why it is measured in grams, and how to get it from food.
Onions, garlic, leeks, oats, beans, lentils, slightly green bananas and cooled potatoes or rice are the everyday sources of the fibres
Fibre supplements are useful when intake from food is genuinely difficult, and they work at doses measured in grams per serving rather
Soluble and fermentable fibres slow the speed of the glucose rise after eating, which is associated with fewer energy dips and less sub
Gas is the direct by-product of bacterial fermentation, so a genuine prebiotic dose reliably produces some in the first days or weeks w
Soluble fibre dissolves and forms a gel, slowing digestion and feeding bacteria; insoluble fibre adds bulk and speeds transit. Most pla
FODMAPs are fermentable carbohydrates that commonly trigger symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome, and fructans such as inulin are among
Resistant starch escapes digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the colon, and it is studied at roughly 15 to 30 grams daily
Chicory root inulin is studied as a prebiotic at roughly 5 to 10 grams daily over several weeks, with effects reported on bifidobacteri
General dietary guidance puts adult fibre intake at roughly 25 to 30 grams a day, and most people in Western countries fall well short
A prebiotic is a substrate selectively used by host microorganisms to confer a health benefit — so not all fibre is prebiotic, and the