why we should eat well

It seems a slightly stupid question to ask ‘why should we eat well?’ Surely it is obvious that we should be eating a diet that is as healthy as possible. But what does that actually mean? And exactly how important is it? Is it just about making sure that we don’t eat more calories than we burn? Or should we always be trying to find the right balance between different dietary components? And when we compare food to other factors like exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, sleeping, loneliness, stress or hydration, does it really matter that much?

Despite decades of research, these questions are still surprisingly hard to answer. In the early days of nutrition science at the end of the 19th century, it was all about getting enough food into people, making sure they had adequate protein, energy and micronutrients to keep themselves alive. But throughout the twentieth century, we reached a point in many parts of the world where most people had enough food most of the time. Although this was remarkable progress, it presented a whole new suite of problems for the nutrition sciences. It was clear that diet was still important to health, but exactly how and why became a deeper and more difficult question.

Since then, we have learnt that even when a population has as much food as it could ever want, it will often still lack in certain areas. Take something as simple as fibre. Of all the major nutrients, fibre is the one where most people’s intake tends to fall short. Globally, recommendations are to eat between 25g and 38g per day, yet average consumption in nearly every developed nation falls short of even that lower limit. In the UK, the average is around 19.6g, with the rest of Europe doing little better. Spain has the lowest European consumption at around 16g, slightly less that in the US where the average is around 17g. China, Chile and Japan all eat less than 15g per day, and bottom of the pile is Argentina at around 12g.

The impact tends to be even more significant in lower income families, something likely to drive significant health inequalities. In the UK, children in the poorest 20% of homes eat 17% less fibre than the richest 20%. Consumption can be even lower for teenage girls and the elderly, where less than 1% in each group are thought to meet fibre consumption targets.

What does that mean for people’s health? Well, when it comes to some of the most pressing health issues facing society, increasing fibre consumption could transform outcomes.  In the UK, 10% of women and 12% of men are suffering from cardiovascular disease, and it is the most common cause of premature demise, accounting for 27% of all deaths. 6% of the population currently has Type 2 Diabetes, with that number set to increase considerably over the next few years. Colorectal cancers are the third most common form of cancer, affecting over 40,000 people each year and causing 16,000 deaths. And at any one time, it is thought that around 1 in 5 UK adults are suffering from constipation, resulting in a good deal of avoidable pain and misery. Fibre is associated with risk reduction and management of all these conditions, along with a host of other benefits related to gut health, immune health and weight management. If we could only encourage more people to reach the targets for fibre consumption, we would go a long way to tackling some of the biggest health challenges facing us.

Although the reality of how we can intervene in people’s diets is often complex, the evidence that we should do is incredibly clear. Modern nutrition science tells us that there are a few simple, well-defined things that can be of extraordinary benefit. Fibre consumption is perhaps the clearest example of this, as close to a miracle food as exists.

What else is clear however, is that increasing fibre consumption to recommended levels is a considerable challenge, something that has so far eluded almost every developed nation. The world needs help meeting its fibre targets, which is exactly why this website intends to do. We firmly believe that bread is the ideal vehicle to help boost population fibre consumption. We aim to provide support for food developers, medical professionals and anyone interested in creating healthier food, helping them get more fibre into bread products, potentially addressing some of the most challenging diet related issues of our time.