Our annual campaign backing the government’s public health target that everyone over 16-years of age consumes at least 30g of fibre a day began this morning.
Fibre is a type of carbohydrate and found naturally in plant foods like grains, beans, nuts, fruit and vegetables. Eating enough fibre is known to help to reduce risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal (bowel) cancer and to improve digestive health.
“Fibre February is my favourite campaign. So often public health messaging seems to focus on controlling intake or eating less of something. With Fibre February we get to showcase a whole range of delicious food and for the most part get to tell people – knock your socks off, eat as much as you want!”
Priya Nicholas, Head of Communications, UK Flour Millers.
To demonstrate that delicious food can be a good source of fibre, the UK Flour Millers asked their recipe development team to come up with an easy-to-make cookie that contains at least 6g of fibre. And they did not disappoint. This year’s Fibre February recipe is a single serve, air-fryer-friendly sticky toffee cookie. The full batch makes six cookies, and once portioned it is simple to freeze and then bake cookies, straight from frozen, at a later date. This helps people stay mindful not only of gut health during Fibre February, but also of food waste and portion size. It’s a winning recipe on so many levels. The recipe can be seen here: https://fabflour.co.uk/recipes/single-serve-airfryer-sticky-toffee-cookie/
Knowledge sharing and staying up-to-date with the latest research is another key strand of the campaign and UK Flour Millers, along with others in the food sector such as the Food and Drink Federation, will be running webinars for members to keep them abreast of fibre related issues including consumer understanding and acceptance of fibre; and addressing health disparities.
It is crucial in all communications outreach to ensure that today’s goals have longevity and are adopted by the next generation. To help achieve this UK Flour Millers has been working closely with Food a Fact of Life, an education programme run by the British Nutrition Foundation, which provides curriculum-linked teaching resources for schools throughout all four nations of the UK. A dedicated Fibre pack with teacher’s information, classroom activities as well as games and lesson plans has been published and is free to access. https://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/11-14-years/activity-packs-and-quizzes-11-14-years/activity-packs-11-14-years/fibre-activity-pack/
The campaign includes a Toast to Fibre where we celebrate the many different types of bread that can be toasted – all of which include fibre, even white bread. Consumers can get involved in the campaign via social media competitions which ask people to share their favourite high-fibre toast combo be – which could include anything from beans on toast to almond nut butter and figs. To join the conversations follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
