Are Canadians Not Getting Enough Fibre?

Studies show that a good proportion of Canadian children do not consume enough vegetables and fruit as recommended, at least 5 servings/day. Fruit and vegetable intake has been declining slightly over the past 20 years. A marked decline is observed among adolescents due to a decrease in fruit juice consumption that is not compensated by an increased intake of whole fruit.⁽¹⁾ Fibre, which is found in a lot of fruits and vegetables, is a non-digestible carbohydrate. Fibre plays important roles in the body: bowel regularity and gives a feeling of prolonged satiety.⁽²⁾ 

Dietary fibre intake in children, which is naturally present in fruits and vegetables, is far below the target intake or Adequate Intake (AI)⁽³⁾:   

• Fibre intake in 1–3-year-old: 9.9g/d (AI = 19g/day) 
• Fibre intake for 4–8-year-old: 13.4g/d (AI = 25g/day) 

Given the benefits of fibre, public health experts encourage parents to give their children plenty of vegetables and fruit as an excellent source of fibre for a healthy, balanced diet. ^(1,4,5,) 

^{(1)  Polsky, JY., Garriguet, D. Change in vegetable and fruit consumption in Canada between 2004 and 2015. 24 june 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2020004/article/00001-eng.htm} 

^{(2) Health Canada. What is fibre? https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fibre.html}

^{(3) Health Canada, 2012. Do Canadian Children Meet Their Nutrient Requirements Through Food Intake Alone?  https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sc-hc/H164-112-1-2012-eng.pdf}

^{(4) Heart & Stroke Foundation. Position statement about vegetable & fruit consumption and heart disease and stroke. August 2013.  https://www.heartandstroke.ca/-/media/pdf-files/canada/2017-position-statements/vegetableand-fruit-consumption-ps-eng.ashx?rev=374631abde6145868e80fb07f5e52299}

^{(5) Canada’s Food Guide. Eat vegetables and fruits.  https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/eat-vegetables-and-fruits/}