Fibre: When too much of a good thing hurts your gut

For decades, fibre has been one of the quiet heroes of healthy eating. It keeps the bowel moving, helps prevent constipation and feeds the uncountable bacteria living in the gut. Now, social media has given fibre a new identity. The trend known as “fibremaxxing” is encouraging people to dramatically increase their fibre intake, sometimes to more than 50 grammes a day in the belief that more fibre automatically means better health.