Should you be ‘fibermaxxing’ for your gut and mental health? Experts weigh in on the TikTok trend

Oats, bananas and blueberries are three of many fiber-rich foods. (alvarez/E+/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Chia seeds, goji berries, strawberries and raspberries: A TikTok user going by the name “impamibaby” is filling her pretty wooden breakfast bowl with fiber-rich foods and filming it, inspiring her audience to eat more of the nutrient she says has made her bloating disappear.

She’s “#fibermaxxing” — the practice of eating meals that help people meet or exceed their daily fiber intake recommendations in the name of improving their gut health, losing weight and more. Videos with the tag have garnered tens of millions of views and likes. They generally feature people making and eating meals chock-full of fiber-rich foods, and are sometimes overlaid with text detailing the amount of the nutrient in their dish and the health benefits.

TikTok has served up more than its fair share of questionable eating trends — looking at you, NyQuil chicken and #SkinnyTok — but every now and then, it surprises with something actually worth trying, registered dietitian Lauren Manaker said. Right now, that’s fibermaxxing.

“Most Americans aren’t getting nearly enough fiber in their diets, and that’s a problem,” Manaker, owner of Nutrition Now Counseling, a nutrition communications business based in Charleston, South Carolina, said via email.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend adults consume 22 to 34 grams of fiber daily generally dependent on age and gender, but more than 90 per cent of women and 97 per cent of men in the United States don’t meet these recommendations, according to the guidelines.

“Whether it’s adding chia seeds to everything, sneaking veggies into your meals, or finding new ways to love whole grains, fibermaxxing might just be the trend we didn’t know we needed,” Manaker said — especially as rates of colon cancer, to which low fiber intake has been linked, she added, have been rising among people ages 20 to 54.

Gastroenterologist Dr. Kyle Staller agreed, adding that adequate fiber intake has “been a recommendation that has not changed for years.”

“Despite lots of science that comes and goes and trends that come and go, fiber is an oldie but goodie,” said Staller, director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

But like anything else — and especially TikTok trends — fibermaxxing can definitely have drawbacks if you make substantial changes too quickly, Staller said.

The role of fiber in your health

There are two types of dietary fiber: soluble and insoluble, experts said.

Soluble fiber dissolves in water and absorbs it to form a gel-like substance, and is more associated with some of the digestive benefits of fiber, experts said. Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, doesn’t dissolve in water and helps people have more frequent and heavier bowel movements.

“A balance of both is key for overall health,” Manaker said. “If you get too much of one type and not enough of the other, you might experience digestive issues like bloating or constipation.”

Most fibrous foods contain both types. Foods richer in soluble fiber include apples, bananas, citrus fruits, barley, carrots, oats, beans and psyllium, which derives from the husks of seeds of the Plantago ovata plant, according to the Mayo Clinic. Those with mostly insoluble fiber include vegetables such as green beans, cauliflower and potatoes; whole-wheat flour or wheat bran; nuts; and beans. Many TikTok videos on fibermaxxing feature meals made from a variety of these foods, such as colorful salads mixing different leafy greens and vegetables. Versions of TikTok user impamibaby’s breakfast are common among fibermaxxers, and they’re rich in insoluble fiber.

Within those two types of fiber, there are other forms and characteristics of fiber also critical for gut health, Staller said. The viscosity of the fiber, for one, affects how well it flows through your digestive tract, while fiber fermentability influences how much your gut microbiome can actually ferment the fiber into helpful compounds to use as an energy source, he said.

“Then finally, how is the fiber packaged?” Staller added. Foods that are more processed, cut up, raw or cooked — all those forms have different effects on your digestive health, even if the foods contain the same type of fiber.

However, you don’t need to worry about doggedly tracking all these things in your efforts to increase your fiber intake. Eating a variety of whole or minimally processed foods will give you enough of what you need, Staller said.

Plentiful benefits of eating enough fiber

The link between higher fiber intake and decreased rates of colon and rectal cancers may be explained by a couple of factors, according to Jennifer House, a registered dietitian nutritionist and founder of First Step Nutrition in Alberta.

When fiber increases stool bulk, it decreases the amount of time waste is in contact with the intestinal tract. “Also, our gut bacteria ferments fiber, and it creates something called short-chain fatty acids,” such as butyrate, she added, which can nourish critical cells in the colon and inhibit cancer cells and inflammation.

Recent research also suggests people with colon cancer may have greater odds of surviving if they increase their fiber consumption, Staller said.

Fiber can also reduce your risk of other chronic illnesses and health conditions, experts said — including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and premature death. And by improving your digestion, you’re also reducing your risk of constipation-induced issues such as hemorrhoids and pelvic floor problems.

Part of why fiber can help prevent or manage those conditions is because it aids in blood sugar regulation by slowing digestion — to a healthy degree — and the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, reducing blood sugar spikes after meals, Manaker said.

Fiber helps maintain a healthy weight, which is possible due to that blood sugar regulation and to fiber keeping you fuller longer, likely reducing overall calorie intake, Manaker added.

Some TikTokers claim fibermaxxing can also help “detoxify” your gut. Some of the experts don’t love that word, given all the pseudoscience it’s associated with in diet culture. But since fiber helps you poop, it “literally does help remove toxins from your body,” House said.

Additionally, some fibrous foods, such as leafy vegetables and nuts, support liver health, which plays an important role in detoxification, Manaker said.

Experts are also increasingly learning more about the connections between our gut health and mental health, House said — finding that diets high or low in fiber-rich foods do affect your mood.

Adding more fiber to your diet

If you want to start fibermaxxing, first know that “going from zero to 60 when you don’t consume any fiber at all is probably not going to go well,” Staller said. That’s because when fiber pulls water into the digestive tract, the tract expands, causing discomfort and bloating in people who aren’t accustomed to a normal fiber intake.

Start low and slow by maybe adding some berries to your usual cereal breakfast or swapping one of your meals for one higher in fiber, House suggested. See how you feel after doing that for a week or two before you increase your intake. Some types of fiber don’t work for everyone, Staller said, so listen to your body and adjust accordingly. Working with a dietitian, if possible, is best when navigating significant dietary changes.

Fiber supplements — particularly those solely or predominantly made of psyllium husk — can be helpful if you have problems eating enough fiber or medical problems that need to be addressed more aggressively, such as high cholesterol, sources said. But they shouldn’t replace fibrous foods as you’d be missing out on all the nutrients, minerals and vitamins they have to offer.

There are several ways you can start incorporating more fiber into meals you already eat, such as swapping white rice, bread or pasta for whole-grain versions, Manaker said.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans site has a list of hundreds of commonly available foods and how much fiber they contain per standard serving size.

Be sure to drink plenty of water, too — if fiber doesn’t have any water to bring with it into your digestive tract, that can cause more bloating, gas and constipation due to dry stools, sources said.

By Kristen Rogers, CNN