We hear about fiber all the time. It's great for digestion, heart health, and of course,

your gut microbiome. And most of us are only getting about half the recommended amount.

But is a fiber supplement like metamusel or benefiber the answer? You might be surprised to find out

what fiber supplements do and don't offer.

Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast, a show where we sort fact from fiction

and answer your questions about food and nutrition so that you

can feel more confident about your choices. I'm your host, Monica Reinagle, and today's episode was

inspired by an email from Cheryl Ann, who wrote, I have diverticulosis, and I was told to take

metamusel every day. I do this, but it makes me gassy, and I probably

already have more fiber in my diet than most people. Do I really need this supplement?

Now, we talk about fiber on this podcast a lot. It is a key player in digestive health, of course, as well as heart, bone, even brain health.

And a lot of people do use fiber supplements like metamusil or benefibur on a daily basis,

either to manage conditions such as diverticulosis or chronic constipation, or maybe because they're just not sure whether

they're getting enough fiber from their diet. But as Cheryl Ann has experienced, they can

sometimes cause harmless but uncomfortable symptoms like gas and bloating. And in some cases, a different fiber supplement may

solve the problem, but in other cases, a supplement may not actually be necessary. So how much

fiber do you actually need? You might have seen 25 or 30 grams as the recommended amount, but that is actually just a ballpark

estimate because the official recommended daily allowance for fiber is scaled to how many

calories you eat. So the guideline is 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat. Now, of course, everyone's

calorie needs are a little different, depending on your size and your level of activity. But

if you eat about 1,800 calories a day, which might be typical for a small to medium-sized

body, that works out to 25 grams per day. If you're eating more like

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