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Adding more fibre to your diet will help you gain less belly fat, which is linked to chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Fruit and vegetables, as well as being packed with nutrients and antioxidants, are full of fibre. And a new study shows that for every 10 grams of fibre you eat, over time 3.7 per cent less belly fat will be gained.

There’s fibre – and there’s fibre

The study’s findings refer to soluble fibre in particular. Fibre is a carbohydrate found in plant foods and there are two types: one that dissolves in water and one that doesn’t. Soluble fibre, found in fruit, vegetables, oats and beans, dissolves into a gel in water. It prevents constipation, protects against colon cancer, lowers cholesterol and, it’s now been found, also helps prevent unhealthy fat around the belly.

About belly fat

Belly fat, or visceral fat, surrounds the internal organs. It’s linked to high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and breast cancer in women. Trying to discover why some people develop more visceral fat than others, researchers looked into the diets and lifestyles of 1,100 Americans over five years. They found that eating more fibre led to a healthier body – even when comparing two people with the same weight.

Chronic illness and weight gain

Many of the diseases that come with ageing are attributable to weight gain, says Professor Penny Kris-Etherton of Penn State University. She says that the new findings on fibre and belly fat may explain older research that showed a diet high in fibre contributed to a lower risk for heart disease.

She said: ‘Whole grains and then soluble fiber and physical activity may help decrease the increase in visceral [fat] with age. It may slow it down, prevent it. People need to eat more soluble fibre, and it’ll help their cholesterol and perhaps their waistlines too.’

Tags: eating healthily, vegetables