There's a nutritional shortfall that affects the overwhelming majority of UK adults, gets relatively little attention compared to protein or calories, and is quietly linked to some of the most significant health concerns of our time.
It's fibre. And you're likely not eating enough of it.
The Numbers
The UK government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommends that adults consume 30g of dietary fibre per day. The average UK adult actually consumes around 18g. That's a 40% shortfall, day after day, year after year.
To put that in perspective, only 9% of UK adults meet the 30g recommendation. Nine in every hundred. The other 91% are consistently falling short of a nutrient that plays a fundamental role in digestive health, metabolic function, and long-term disease risk.
This isn't a niche concern. It's one of the most widespread nutritional shortfalls in the country.
What Fibre Actually Does
Fibre isn't glamorous. It doesn't build visible muscle or provide an immediate energy boost. It works quietly, in the background, doing things your body depends on.
Digestive Health
Fibre is the primary fuel source for your gut microbiome — the trillions of bacteria that live in your digestive tract and play a critical role in everything from nutrient absorption to immune function. Dietary fibre feeds beneficial bacteria, supports healthy bowel movements, and helps maintain the integrity of the intestinal lining.
Without adequate fibre, the gut microbiome loses diversity, bowel movements can become irregular, and the risk of digestive complaints increases. Constipation, bloating, and general digestive sluggishness are often the most immediate and noticeable signs of inadequate fibre intake.
Satiety and Weight Management
Fibre slows the movement of food through your digestive system, which means you feel full for longer after eating. This is a well-established effect. High-fibre meals produce a measurably greater sense of satiety than low-fibre meals with the same calorie content.
For people managing their weight, this is significant. When you feel satisfied after eating, you're less likely to snack between meals, less likely to overeat at the next meal, and less likely to reach for high-calorie convenience foods out of hunger. Fibre helps regulate appetite naturally, without requiring willpower or calorie counting.
Blood Sugar Regulation
Soluble fibre slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, reducing the sharp spikes and crashes in blood glucose that follow meals. This has practical implications for energy levels (fewer afternoon slumps), mood stability, and long-term metabolic health.
For the millions of UK adults living with or at risk of type 2 diabetes, this effect is particularly relevant. Higher fibre intakes are associated with improved blood sugar control in research studies.
Long-Term Health
The evidence linking dietary fibre to reduced risk of serious chronic conditions is substantial. Research published in The Lancet, based on a meta-analysis of 185 prospective studies and 58 clinical trials, found that higher fibre intakes were associated with a 15–30% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular-related death, incidence of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer.
These aren't marginal effects. A 15–30% risk reduction across some of the most common causes of death and disease is one of the strongest dietary associations in nutritional science.
Why We're Not Eating Enough
The fibre gap isn't a mystery. Modern diets have shifted away from whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables — the traditional sources of dietary fibre — towards processed and convenience foods that are typically low in fibre or fibre-free.
Breakfast cereals are often refined rather than wholegrain. White bread has replaced wholemeal in many households. Ready meals and takeaways dominate evening eating for many people. And snacking tends to involve biscuits, crisps, and chocolate rather than fruit, nuts, or vegetables.
The result is a national diet that provides plenty of calories, reasonable amounts of protein, and dramatically insufficient fibre.
Where Your Protein Shake Fits In
Here's the part that most people haven't considered: your daily protein shake is one of the most consistent items in your diet. If you use a protein shake daily, you're consuming a product that could be helping with the fibre gap but often isn’t.
Most protein powders contribute nothing. Whey protein isolate contains 0g of fibre. Most vegan protein isolates contain 0g of fibre. Even protein concentrates typically have negligible amounts. Every day, you're consuming a product that could be helping with the fibre gap but often isn’t.
Protein & Fibre delivers 8–10g of dietary fibre per serving. That's roughly a third of the 30g daily recommendation, from a single shake. Over a year, that's approximately 2,900–3,650g of additional fibre in your diet, just from your protein.
The fibre isn't added as a supplement or a separate ingredient. It's intrinsic to the ground sunflower kernels — the same whole-food ingredient that provides the protein. When you don't strip the fibre out during processing, it stays in the product naturally. It's there because nobody removed it.
Practical Ways To Close The Gap
A Protein & Fibre shake isn't the only way to increase your fibre intake, and it shouldn't be your only source. Here are some practical, everyday approaches to getting closer to 30g:
Switch to wholegrain. Wholemeal bread instead of white. Brown rice or pasta instead of refined. Porridge oats instead of sugary cereals. These simple swaps add fibre at meals you're already eating.
Eat more vegetables. Particularly legumes — lentils, chickpeas, beans — which are among the highest-fibre foods available. Adding a portion of legumes to soups, stews, or salads can add 5–8g of fibre per serving.
Keep fruit accessible. An apple provides about 4g of fibre. A pear provides about 5g. A banana provides about 3g. Keeping fruit visible and within reach makes it a more likely snack choice.
Don't peel unnecessarily. The skin of many fruits and vegetables (potatoes, apples, carrots) contains a significant proportion of the fibre. Leaving the skin on where practical increases your intake with no extra effort.
Choose nuts and seeds. A small handful of almonds (30g) provides about 3.5g of fibre. Chia seeds, flaxseeds, and sunflower seeds are also excellent sources.
Add a daily Protein & Fibre shake. 8–10g of fibre alongside 21–23g of complete protein. One serving, once a day, and you’ve covered around a third of your fibre target before you've even thought about the rest of your meals.
The Bigger Picture
Fibre isn't exciting. It doesn't have the marketing budget of protein. It doesn't get championed by fitness influencers or feature on the front of supplement packaging. But the evidence for its importance is strong, the national shortfall is significant, and the practical steps to address it are straightforward.
If you're already making the effort to hit your protein targets — and you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't — then your fibre targets deserve the same attention. They're at least as important for your overall diet, and often more neglected.
Your protein shake is something you consume every day. It should be working for you on every front, not just one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much fibre should I eat per day?
The UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommends 30g of dietary fibre per day for adults. The average UK adult currently consumes approximately 18g, leaving a significant daily shortfall.
What happens if I don't eat enough fibre?
Inadequate fibre intake is associated with constipation, reduced gut microbiome diversity, poorer blood sugar regulation, increased hunger between meals, and higher long-term risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer.
Can I get fibre from a protein shake?
Most protein shakes contain no fibre because the manufacturing process strips it out. Protein & Fibre delivers 8–10g of dietary fibre per serving — roughly a third of the daily recommendation — because it uses whole ground sunflower kernels rather than an isolated protein extract.
Will eating more fibre cause bloating?
If your current fibre intake is low, increasing it gradually over one to two weeks allows your digestive system to adjust. Sudden large increases can cause temporary bloating or gas, but these typically settle as your gut microbiome adapts.
Is the fibre in Protein & Fibre added or natural?
The fibre is intrinsic to the ground sunflower kernels. It's not a separate added ingredient — it's the natural fibre content of the whole food, retained because the manufacturing process (cold pressing and grinding) doesn't remove it.