Should I take a fiber supplement?

In a word, no. Are you surprised? Many of our patients are. They stare at us with eyes the size of dinner plates when we tell them to stop using their supplemental fiber. The fiber supplement industry has done its advertising and marketing so well that nearly everyone in America is convinced they need to drop some powder in a glass of water, stir, and drink every morning. It’s just not true.

In fact, you might be surprised to learn that most fiber supplements contain very little fiber. Most foods contain more. Take a look at the nutrition facts panel on any fiber supplement. You’ll find that most supplements contain somewhere between 3 and 5 grams of fiber and 25 or so calories. You can easily get that much fiber from food. More important, the fiber in food comes in a complete package that aids digestion. A colleague of ours at Johns Hopkins Hospital tells us that nearly all of his patients who take fiber supplements experience lots of gas and bloating and little constipation relief. Real foods work better, he says, because most contain water and/or oil, two essential ingredients that help fiber do its job.