Changes in the Fibre Content of the British Diet

Abstract

IN nineteenth century Britain, the main dietary sources of “fibre” were cereals, potatoes and, to a lesser extent, green vegetables and pulses. The widespread introduction of roller milling between 1877 and 1880, followed by the growth of the food processing industry and changes in technology, is often said to have resulted in a marked decrease in the amounts of cellulose and other forms of indigestible fibre or “roughage” in the national diet during the past 100 yr. Moreover, the continued ingestion of a low “fibre” diet has been linked with a variety of diseases which occur predominantly in economically-developed Western countries, and which have become more common in Britain during this century. These include appendicitis¹, toxaemia of pregnancy¹, diverticular disease, and cancer of the colon and rectum^3–5, as well as changes in the levels of serum triglycerides and serum cholesterol⁶. Here I examine whether there has been a concomitant decline in the average “fibre” content of the British diet. This can only be assessed in terms of crude fibre which is an imprecise index of those carbohydrates in plant foods which are not digested by man.