Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched a new research paper, Bridging Britain’s Fibre Gap, warning that 96% of UK adults are not eating enough fibre to support long-term health.

The report, developed by the high street retailer’s in-house nutrition team in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation, shows the average adult consumes just 16.2g of fibre a day, around half of the recommended 30g.

Low fibre intake is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, type II diabetes and bowel cancer.

The research was presented to a parliamentary roundtable attended by 13 MPs with key public health roles, led by M&S Food managing director Alex Freudmann.

The report outlines barriers to fibre consumption and sets out actions for government and industry, including clearer labelling and wider availability of fibre-rich products.

M&S is calling for more consistent on-pack labelling, noting that it already displays fibre grammage across all its food products, despite this not being a legal requirement.

The retailer has also launched a new Nutrient Dense range of 20 products, all containing a source of fibre or another nutrient commonly lacking in UK diets, with fibre content clearly labelled.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

M&S Food head of nutrition Grace Ricotti shared practical steps consumers can take to increase fibre intake, including eating more wholegrains, pulses, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables, and choosing a wider variety of plant-based foods.

“There is clear evidence linking fibre to improved health outcomes, which is why we’re sharing our research and insights about Britain’s Fibre Gap, and what to do about it,” said Ricotti.

“We support collaboration between government and industry to prioritise fibre-rich products, effective communication around fibre and its public health benefits.

“Our report includes practical steps to drive fibre consumption including clearer labelling on pack, fibre-enrichment of products like bread and more flexibility for retailers to make fibre claims so that it’s easy for customers to see which products are high in fibre.”

The British Nutrition Foundation chief executive of Elaine Hindal added: “The low fibre intakes that we see in the UK population reflect poor dietary patterns with a lack of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, pulses and other plant foods.

“Evidence shows that low fibre diets increase the risk of diet-related disease including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer and so increasing fibre intakes is vital to improve population health.

“We welcome this new report, encouraging industry to take action to support consumers in bridging the fibre gap and making fibre-rich choices easier and more appealing”.