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0Fiber-Packed Foods Are Hitting Store Shelves. Be Careful, Doctors Say.
Fiber-enriched products are hot. Manufacturers are packing fiber into everything from soda and energy drinks to doughnuts and snack bars. “Fibermaxxing,” where people post their efforts to load up on fiber, is trending on social media.
But emerging research shows that some fibers used in these products, especially in high doses, could lead to health problems in some people. And a growing number of doctors and nutrition researchers say you should skip them.
“People are kind of overdoing it thinking more is better, but too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing,” says Beth Czerwony, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Human Nutrition.
Fiber usually leads to reduced inflammation, but in some people it can actually cause it. Some dietitians are hearing patients complain of bloating and pain after eating lots of fiber-enriched packaged food and drinks.
There's a big difference between eating naturally high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains, and fiber-enhanced processed foods and supplements, researchers say.
Fiber is good for us generally, and most people don't eat enough of it. Fiber is part of plants that our bodies largely can't digest. It keeps us full, lowers cholesterol and helps stabilize blood sugar. People who eat high-fiber diets have lower risks of obesity, heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
Eating a variety of fiber-rich foods means getting a range of different fibers. That's important for the healthy functioning of the gut microbiome, the collection of microbes that inhabit our digestive tract, says Dr. Purna Kashyap, director of the microbiomics program at Mayo Clinic. Individual fibers feed different bacteria and newer research is finding that fibers have specific—and different—mechanisms for affecting health.
“You can't just say, ‘I'm going to eat junk all day and then I'm going to have a fiber soda, so there you go, I've filled my quota for fiber,'” says Kashyap.
Many snack bars and drinks with added fiber aren't things we should be having often anyway, says Abigail Johnson, associate director of the Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. They often contain high amounts of added sugar and include additives such as emulsifiers, which studies have found cause dysfunction in the microbiome.
Johnson worries that the added fiber, which is often touted on the label, gives these products a “health halo,” making them more appealing to consumers. About 53% of consumers say they plan to buy more high-fiber foods in 2025, according to a 19-country survey by NielsenIQ released in May.
inflammation /ˌɪnfləˈmeɪʃn/ n. 炎症
📗例句：The medicine reduces skin inflammation.
（这种药可缓解皮肤炎症）
🥝搭配：chronic inflammation 慢性炎症
cholesterol /kəˈlestərɒl/ n. 胆固醇
📗例句：Egg yolks contain high cholesterol.
（蛋黄含有高胆固醇）
🥝搭配：lower cholesterol 降低胆固醇
additive /ˈædətɪv/ n. 添加剂
📗例句：This juice contains no artificial additives.
（这种果汁不含人工添加剂）
🥝搭配：chemical additive 化学添加剂
