Today’s Click-Bait BBC Article Promoting a ‘High-Fibre’ Diet Doesn’t Stack Up

Firstly, why does this article have a “click-bait” title and tagline? I thought this was supposed to be a reputable source of news…

What surprised me were the types of foods with Fibre in it that they promoted. They were mainly refined carbs including cereals. I don’t think there was mention of a leafy green vegetable. But it is also the quantity of these types of foods which they stipulate you should be eating.
In addition, their interpretation of the results in the study appears skewed and sensationalized. Take these examples:

It suggests if you shifted 1,000 people from a low fibre diet (less than 15g) to a high-fibre one (25-29g), then it would prevent 13 deaths and six cases of heart disease.
Well, after analysing 185 studies and 58 clinical trials, the results are in and have been published in the Lancet medical journal.

“The evidence is now overwhelming and this is a game-changer that people have to start doing something about it,” one of the researchers, Prof John Cummings, tells BBC News.”

The question remains what else were they eating? I would maintain that people who consumed more fibre in their diet probably also ate less junk food, smoked less, drank less alcohol and ate more vegetables. Why is fibre from refined carb meals promoted as a result of this study? And it would prevent 13 deaths from a 1000? How can something so small demonstrate anything remotely conclusive that high-fibre diets can avoid ‘deaths’?
Something doesn’t stack up at all.

Warbutons, Kellogg’s and Nestle must be suitably pleased with this article.

I think I’ll take Dr. Paul Mason’s advice over this BBC news article – ‘From fibre to the microbiome: low carb gut health’.

Related Articles:
1. Readdressing the Dietary Guidelines which have made us fat and unhealthy.
2. How to read your blood test results. And reading Cholesterol is not what you think.
3. Ketogenic forums response to the above study