Chef Radhika Khandelwal is putting together a new menu at her restaurant, Fig and Maple, in Delhi, and has just tossed up takla leaves with mushrooms. The takla is a rather unfancied herb, growing wild along the Konkan coast and is used as a substitute for fish during the breeding season. But its slightly bitter and subtly sweet taste lifts the comforting smoothness of mushroom. “My menus are built around underused, often overlooked ingredients, not just because they are exciting to work with but because they contain fibre in its most delicious forms,” she says.
Fibre is the new macro-nutrient that is in focus after proteins which, say researchers, should form half of our meal plates in the form of fruits and vegetables, as it feeds gut bacteria. And, increasingly, research shows that the gut microbe is the one that controls every aspect of our health, be it the functioning of the heart, pancreas, liver and even the brain. A balanced gut microbiome is crucial for preventing chronic illnesses, the kind that’s burdening Indians of all ages. Dysbiosis or imbalance can contribute to chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity (the gut microbe regulates fat deposition) and certain cancers. Yet, as per a study in May 2023, supported by the Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India (PFNDAI), 69 per cent of Indians consume less fibre than their recommended daily allowance. A woman needs 20 to 25 gm of fibre (a handful of nuts for breakfast, three servings of fruits and vegetables, wholegrains, bran and a teaspoon of basil or chia seeds) a day. Men need 30 to 38 gm of fibre daily.
“Fibre is so often spoken about clinically but for me it’s about texture, flavour and balance. Without searching for flavours, it’s difficult to make fibre a part of your diet. Ingredients like sawtooth coriander (chura dhaniya), which I use to make a chutney with momos or air potato, takla leaves (a monsoon-only green) and berries like hisalu, kafal and kilmora, all bring fibre along with stories of the regions they come from. In India, we have always had fibre at the centre of our diet in our millets, pulses, leafy vegetables and seasonal fruits. If we rediscover them, fibre can be inspiring, flavourful and rooted in culture as much as in health,” says Khandelwal.
One of her favourite examples of cooking with fibre is a root-to-shoot pumpkin and barley risotto. Instead of just the pumpkin flesh, she uses the leaves, seeds and flowers. Combined with barley, a traditional fibre-rich grain, she uses sun-dried pumpkin skin as chips with the risotto, roasts its seeds for a crunchy topping, steams fish in pumpkin leaves and puts it atop the risotto. “Fibre runs through all of these ideas, whether it’s in the crunch of pumpkin seeds, the chew of barley, or the leafy greens that appear for just a fleeting season. The Ladakh seabuckthorn, quince, apricot, fruit red snake and fish mint leaves lend themselves to complex flavour profiles while being very rich in fibre. We do not have to just stick to salad vegetables and fruits,” adds Khandelwal.
Why we need fibre
Fibre is a type of indigestible carbohydrate that remains in the colon after other components of the food are absorbed by the body. “By staying in the gut longer, it gives you satiety, kills hunger pangs and cravings, thereby indirectly helping you manage your weight. Its bulk is the reason that your colon stays clear of food waste and is pushed out of your system, easing digestion. Good bacteria feed on fibre while bad bacteria feed on refined carbs. So if you want the good bacteria to always have an edge over the bad bacteria, you need something that triggers them to multiply and grow. That happens to be fibre,” says Ritika Samaddar, regional director, Dietetics, Max Healthcare. Fibre has a multi-starrer role in our bodies. By regulating calorie intake, it prevents insulin resistance, by pulling out the low density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol with its brush-like action, it keeps your fat profile in balance.
“Fibre is both soluble (oats, beans, lentils, apples, citrus fruits, avocados, barley, nuts, seeds and vegetables like carrots, broccoli and sweet potatoes) and insoluble. The first kind dissolves in water, forming a gel that can help lower cholesterol and blood sugar and promote fullness. Insoluble fibre (wheat bran, whole grains, brown rice and whole wheat flour, the skins of many fruits and vegetables) gives more bulk and acts as a laxative,” explains Samaddar.
Fibre’s superfood value also has a lot to do with the rising spiral of colon cancer among the young, the third-most common cancer worldwide. In 2003, a European study found that people with the highest fibre intake had a significantly lower risk of colorectal cancer. Since then many studies have been consistently showing the same results.
“That’s because fibre feeds the good bug, which in turn reduces inflammation and protects cells from becoming cancerous. Research has also shown that fibre reduces colon cancer risk by moving stool more quickly through the body, reducing the amount of time that waste products come into contact with colon cells. And if you are gorging on fast and processed foods, then you are risking a carcinogen build-up,” says Samaddar.
For people who already have cancer, fibre could also aid with treatment. Once the gut microbiome is in balance, chemotherapy and immunotherapy become more effective and reduce their side effects, say studies. Most importantly, newer research is proving how fibre supports the gut-brain axis. When fibres are consumed by gut microbes, they produce short-chain fatty acids which strengthen the gut’s protective barrier, reduce inflammation and modulate the immune system, positively impacting mood and cognitive function.
Slice some raw vegetables for making quick salads as snacks
Fibre, protein are a duet
While both have an independent role — protein being the power nutrient and fibre stimulating the GLP1 hormone that ensures glucose regulation and appetite control — the combined effect of both is multiplied when they are had together. So merely having protein without fibre can hamper absorption of nutrients.
One of clinical dietician and celebrity diet counsellor Simrat Kathuria’s clients, a 32-year-old woman professional, came to her struggling with constant cravings and weight gain despite eating healthy. “She was eating protein sometimes and fibre sometimes but rarely together. For example, she would have boiled chana in the evening but without any vegetables. Within an hour, she was hungry again. Interestingly, when she tried increasing her protein intake on her own, she also experienced constipation, which is a very common issue when fibre intake is low. This made her even more reluctant to continue with a protein-rich diet,” says Kathuria, who restructured her meals.
A chana salad was made fibre-rich by adding cucumbers, tomatoes and onions rather than serving chana alone. Instead of serving plain paneer with roti, she proposed sautéed spinach and beans on the side. Within six weeks, she not only lost 4.5 kg but also reported that her cravings had reduced drastically and her digestive capability had improved.
A study published in The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism demonstrated that the combination of protein and fibre in meals increased satiety by an additional 30 per cent compared to meals made up of a single nutrient. This is effective in curbing appetite and reducing overeating, which supports weight management.
“Essentially, protein is for body construction, while fibre is for moderating digestion to control the pace at which energy is made available. Protein and fibre work together to keep one full, curb cravings and sharpen metabolism. Having just dal, which is protein, could lead to earlier hunger, and having only salad, i.e., fibre, is not very fulfilling either,” says Kathuria.
She suggests breakfast combinations like besan chilla (chickpea flour pancakes) with grated vegetables and curd, oats cooked with milk, topped with flaxseeds and apple slices and moong dal chilla (lentil pancake) stuffed with spinach. “Your lunch platter could vary between rajma with rice, cucumber and onion salad. Have grilled chicken/fish with sautéed vegetables and paneer bhurji (scrambled cottage cheese) with wholewheat roti and salad. For dinner, have quinoa khichdi with moong dal and plenty of vegetables. Try a spinach tofu curry with multi-grain roti. Or opt for masoor dal with sautéed beans and bottle gourd,” she recommends.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reports that the average protein consumption among Indians falls significantly short of what is recommended. The lack of fibre in the diet is just as, if not more, concerning. The need to combine these two, therefore, cannot be stressed enough.
A tweak with big results
Once Kathuria had a 26-year-old girl battling PCOD (polycystic ovary syndrome). She had irregular periods, weight gain and acne and a craving for junk and sweets, “We balanced the meals, putting her on carbs in the morning and dinner while skipping lunch. We started adding fibre in the form of fruits in between meals. Since she felt hungry after a meal because she had refined carbs, which broke down rather rapidly, we started protein with 10 to 15 gm fibre,” says Kathuria. Pre-meal, she advised the girl to have a fibrous salad. “A lassi with one teaspoon of basil seed keeps you full for a longer time…sauteed vegetables, roasted chicken/tofu are good fibrous alternatives, too,” says Kathuria. The girl lost four to five kg in 45 days, her acne disappeared and her periods regularised as insulin resistance improved.
She also saw results by combining fibre and protein for dinner among patients with a high fasting sugar. “At 60, this person was on insulin of 25 units and his HbA1c (average three-month count of blood sugar) was 8.2 per cent although he never ate at restaurants nor did he even have the occasional sweet. Now two-and-a-half months later, not only have his insulin shots stopped, he has just one medication,” says Kathuria. All she did was change wheat rotis to jowar and moved to fibre and protein combinations in each meal. His fasting blood sugar is now 85 to 90 mg/dL. Other than fruit, Kathuria plays around with snack options like khakra and makhana with vegetables. “I ask my patients to send me their meal pictures in real time so that they can stay motivated and guided,” adds Kathuria, whose diet relieved a regular gym-goer from acidity and constipation. He relied on a protein-heavy diet comprising 250 gm of chicken. The little vegetables he had were cruciferous, giving him gas. “We replaced the latter with sauteed vegetables and recommended he have water soaked with high-fibre chia seeds and sabza seeds. Not only did his constipation vanish, it helped him burn extra calories,” says Kathuria.
Samaddar is constantly hunting for ideas to persuade her patients to make the switch to whole foods. “Adolescents are highly dependent on fast food but give them easy-to-carry nuts and seeds in appetising mixes instead. I have myself seen how quickly they stop eating junk and lose weight,” says Samaddar, who recommends more soluble fibre like nuts, seeds and wholegrains because they control sugar and cholesterol. “Our traditional diet was always rich in fibre and geared towards strengthening gut health. Although we have now taken to moringa or drumstick and millets, we need to rediscover more fibre-rich foods like amaranth, which can be a good substitute for quinoa,” she says.
Who needs supplements?
Often, working on our diets seems more difficult than taking a fibre supplement for what we lack in our diet. That’s why our anxieties about preventive healthcare have driven up demand for supplements that we do not really need. According to estimates, the Indian fibre supplements market is expected to reach $821.5 million by 2030 from $483.0 million in 2024. Tablets and powders are the dominant forms. “Ideally, in the Indian context, we do not need supplements, given our fibre-rich food sources. These are advised only for the elderly and those with specific conditions when their food tolerance goes down, the elderly needing more of psyllium husk for digestive health. What people do not realise is that supplements can provide only one or a few specific types of fibre, lacking the diverse spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients found in whole foods. Besides, fibre works well in combination with other food groups rather than just taking a supplement,” says Samaddar.
The future diet
In a new study published in Food Research International, the RMIT University team in Melbourne, Australia has proposed a more nuanced fibre classification based on five key features: backbone structure, water-holding-capacity, structural charge, fibre matrix and fermentation rate. “Apples and bananas are both rich in dietary fibre but the fibre in each works very differently. Our research is helping to understand which type of fibres we should eat to help address certain ailments,” RMIT University food scientist Professor Raj Eri was quoted as saying. For example, a fibre with a high fermentation rate would work better for colonic health and help dieticians customise diet charts for patients.
Getting your daily fibre fix is easy enough. As Samaddar says, “Slice some raw vegetables for making quick salads as snacks. Have whole grains instead of refined ones. Sprinkle nuts and seeds on your salad. Include a piece of fruit or vegetable as part of each meal.” For exotic value, there is Russian sage from Ladakh.
Fibre feeds the good bug, which in turn reduces inflammation and protects cells from becoming cancerous. If you are gorging on fast and processed foods, then you are risking a carcinogen build-up 
Slice some raw vegetables for making quick salads as snacks
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