How to Estimate How Much Fiber We Eat in a Day

 

The fiber food guidelines issued by the United Nations illuminated that a healthy people should have 30-50g (dry weight) fiber in their daily diet. Therefore, each of us should evaluate how much dietary fiber we eat in a day, and appropriately adjust our diet based on the evaluation results.Because dietary fiber is an essential nutrient in the human body and cannot be synthesized in the human body, it must be supplemented in the diet every day.

 

To estimate dietary fiber intake, three data are needed: the amount of plant-derived foods consumed daily, the cellulose content and the water content.  Take the current average dietary fiber intake of the urban population in my country as an example to illustrate the estimation method:

 

1. If calculated on the basis of 250 grams of ration per capita: the fiber content of refined white flour is about 2%. Therefore, people who rely on flour as the staple food will get about 7 grams of cellulose from the staple food every day; the cellulose content of polished rice is 0.6% to 0.8%  , People who eat rice as the staple food get about 2 grams of fiber from the staple food every day.  People who consume a mixture of flour and rice get 4 to 5 grams of cellulose from staple foods a day, and people who consume a mixture of flour, rice, and grains get 5 to 6 grams of cellulose from staple foods every day.

 

2. Based on the per capita consumption of 50 grams of soy products and other plant-derived foods, it is possible to obtain nearly 1 gram of cellulose.

 

3. Based on the per capita consumption of 1000 grams of fruits and vegetables, as the water content is above 80%, the obtained cellulose is about 2 grams.

 

Adding the main and non-staple foods, people who eat flour as a staple food consume an average of about 10 grams of fiber per day, which is only 1/3 of the minimum requirement; people who eat rice as a staple food consume an average of about 5 grams of fiber per day.  It is only 1/6 of the minimum requirement; people who consume a mixture of flour and rice consume about 8-9 grams of fiber per day, which is less than 1/3 of the minimum requirement.  It can be seen that the fiber intake of most residents is obviously low. This is an important reason for overnutrition, overweight and obesity. The principle of adjusting the diet is to increase the intake of dietary fiber, and it should be based on increasing plant-derived foods such as semolina, brown rice, black noodles, grains, and beans.

 

It should be noted that there is no unified scientific definition of dietary fiber in academia till today, and there is currently no unified measurement method. Therefore, the results obtained by the above calculation methods are estimated values and can only be used as reference, and it is difficult to be accurate. Consumers can adjust their dietary fiber intake based on the estimated results.

 

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