{"id":818229,"date":"2026-10-30T03:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/818229\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:12:08","slug":"biggest-fibre-boost-could-be-scraps-in-your-bin-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/818229\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest fibre boost could be scraps in your bin, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

The college has been experimenting in its canteen, external<\/a>, offering staff and students root-to-tip meals, such as banana skin curry. <\/p>\n

At home, people might want to try leaving skins on kiwi fruit, using broccoli stalks in stir-fries, or adding bell pepper seeds to dishes, the researchers suggest. <\/p>\n

While cooking can change the fibre content, it doesn’t usually destroy it all.<\/p>\n

Steaming, microwaving, or quick saut\u00e9ing tends to preserve nutrients best<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr Gibson said: “This isn’t about perfection and this isn’t about forcing people to eat unpalatable food \u2013 it’s about recognising the nutritional value in components we’ve been conditioned to discard.”<\/p>\n

She acknowledges some may be hesitant to try. <\/p>\n

Some diners raised concerns during the canteen trial. <\/p>\n

Over the nine-week period, ‘root-to-tip’ dishes made up a third of total daily hot menu sales at the university. <\/p>\n

Those choosing the new dishes were less likely to finish their meals than diners eating from the conventional menu.<\/p>\n

Kirsten Jackson, a dietitian with the British Dietetic Association who specialises in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), says the food hacks are useful as long as produce is washed thoroughly.<\/p>\n

She suggests blending pineapple cores into smoothies, but says the tough skins are not something she would recommend.<\/p>\n

Some stalks may need to be cooked or finely chopped to make them more palatable, she adds.<\/p>\n

“Just because a broccoli stalk doesn’t fit into tonight’s meal doesn’t mean it needs to go in the bin. Chop it up, freeze it and add it to a soup or stir-fry another day,” she said.<\/p>\n

She advises increasing fibre intake gradually to avoid bloating, noting that people with IBS may find it harder to tolerate.<\/p>\n

And there are some things to avoid entirely, said the British Nutrition Foundation. <\/p>\n

Green potatoes and rhubarb leaves contain toxic compounds, while tough stalks and seeds may not be suitable for young children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The college has been experimenting in its canteen, external, offering staff and students root-to-tip meals, such as banana…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-818229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}