Are you interested in a green food that can make you healthy and live longer?

It can reduce the risk of life-long incurable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes in an all-natural way. It also can help you keep your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol low.

It's also worth mentioning that it's cheap and readily available in supermarkets.

It is fiber, and a major study has found that it has tremendous health benefits.

It is well known for its ability to stop constipation, but the truth is that its health benefits go far beyond that.

How much fiber do we need?

The academics from the University of Otago in New Zealand and the University of Dundee in the UK who took part in the study say that a person should eat at least 25 grams of fiber a day.

However, they say this is only the "right" amount for a healthier body. If efforts were made to increase intake to 30 grams (1 ounce), there would be even more benefits.

Most people around the world consume less than 20 grams of fiber per day. In the UK, fewer than one in 10 adults can eat 30 grams of fiber per day.

On average, women consume about 17 grams of fiber per day and men 21 grams.

What foods are higher in fiber?

Fiber-rich foods include fruits, and vegetables, some of which use whole grain breakfast cereals, bread and pasta, legumes such as lentils or chickpeas, and a variety of nuts and seeds, among others.

How do you consume 30 grams of fiber?

Nutrition professor Elaine Rush gives the following example of how you can achieve a fiber intake of 25-30 grams:

Half a cup of oatmeal = 9 grams of fiber

One slice of thick brown bread = 2 grams of fiber

One cup of cooked lentils = 4 grams of fiber

One boiled potato with skin on = 2 grams of fiber

One carrot = 3 grams of fiber

One apple with the skin on = 4 grams of fiber

The report showed that if 1,000 people were shifted from a low-fiber diet to a high-fiber diet, there would be 13 fewer deaths and six fewer heart attacks among those 1,000 people.

The study also showed that the risk of type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer would be reduced, while weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol would be lower.

The conclusions of the study show that fiber and whole-grain intake are undoubtedly important for long-term health.