Scroll through TikTok for long enough and you'll soon stumble across people putting chia seeds into almost everything imaginable — water, oatmeal and yes, even ice cream — or piling their plates with lentils and beans. They certainly do not play around about their fiber intake. They're fibermaxxing, of course.
Dietitians have gotten behind this viral trend for good reason: High-fiber diets lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
Cristina Palacios, a nutrition researcher at FIU, understands the hype. Long before the powerhouse nutrient was getting the level of attention it is today, she was compiling evidence of its other benefits. Palacios has most recently led the NIH-funded MetA-Bone clinical trial to test whether a prebiotic fiber supplement help growing bones get more of the mineral they need during a critical period of childhood.
The results, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest it can.
