M&S has turned fibre health into a policy fight, joining nutritionist Emily English and Dr Anisha Patel in a letter to the Health Secretary calling for simpler wording around fibre claims on food packaging.
The retailer’s case is simple: Britain has a sizeable fibre gap, shoppers want help closing it, and the official vocabulary can sound better suited to a laboratory than a lunch break.
Why M&S is challenging UK fibre health claims
Adults are advised to consume 30g of fibre a day, yet M&S says 96% of UK adults fall short, with many getting only around half that amount. Its own customer research says 92% want to eat more fibre.
Wanting to do something and knowing how to do it are, naturally, distant cousins.
Examples of permitted claims include “barley grain fibre contributes to an increase in faecal bulk” and “wheat bran fibre contributes to an accelerated intestinal transit time”. Both are admirably specific. Neither feels designed for a hurried shopper beside the beans.
M&S wants the UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition to review the permitted language so evidence-based fibre benefits can be expressed more plainly.
Plain English versus scientific precision
There is good reason health claims are tightly controlled. Food labels should not become miniature billboards for loose promises about disease prevention or better health. Claims need evidence.
But precision has limited public-health value if shoppers cannot readily understand it. That is the gap M&S is targeting — commercially, certainly, but not frivolously. Clearer fibre health messaging could help people connect foods such as beans, lentils and chickpeas with the reason they are being encouraged to eat more of them.
Alex Freudmann, Managing Director of Food at M&S, said: “Customers tell us they want to eat more fibre, but the current rules make it harder than it should be to explain the benefits in a simple, everyday way. We are transforming our ranges, making affordable fibre-rich foods easier to shop and raising awareness of the health benefits of fibre by working with Bowel Cancer UK, but we need the rules to catch up. This is a practical, evidence-based change that could help millions of people make healthier choices and support the Government’s prevention agenda.”
The health case behind the campaign
The stakes are larger than the wording on a jar. M&S cites bowel cancer as the fourth most common cancer in the UK and says more than 48,000 people are affected each year. It also says more than one in four cases are linked to low fibre intake and that the disease costs the NHS more than £1 billion annually.
Dr Anisha Patel brings the perspective of both a survivor and a Bowel Cancer UK Ambassador.
“Every day, I see how much of our ill health is driven by preventable disease, yet many people are still unaware of just how important fibre is for their long-term health. A diet rich in fibre is associated with a lower risk of bowel cancer. Around 1 in 3 preventable bowel cancer cases are linked to a low-fibre diet, making fibre one of the simplest and most effective ways we can reduce cancer risk. If we are serious about improving the nation’s health, we need to make healthy choices easier, and that starts with using language people actually understand.
I wholeheartedly support M&S’s campaign to modernise fibre health messaging. Giving retailers the ability to communicate the benefits of fibre in plain English is a simple, practical, evidence-based change that could help millions of people make more informed food choices. Better understanding leads to better choices, and better choices lead to better health. If we can help more people increase their fibre intake, we have a real opportunity to reduce the burden of preventable disease, improve quality of life and ease pressure on our NHS.”
Beans, pulses and the supermarket incentive
M&S is not a disinterested observer. Its Better with Beans initiative has refreshed the retailer’s beans and pulses range, with chickpeas, green lentils, butter beans and kidney beans starting at 55p in glass jars. It has also donated £50,000 to Bowel Cancer UK.
That commercial alignment belongs in the picture. If rules allow retailers to speak more plainly about fibre, M&S gains a stronger way to sell fibre-rich products. Customers may also gain a clearer understanding of why those products matter. Public health and retail strategy occasionally share a trolley.
Emily English, nutritionist and food journalist, said: “Fibre is one of the simplest ways we can support our long-term health, but too many people still see it as complicated or confusing. Being able to talk about fibre in normal language would make it easier for people to understand why it matters and how small, affordable swaps – like adding beans and pulses to meals – can make a real difference.”
Can the rules become clearer without becoming looser?
M&S has spent more than 20 years developing its Eat Well proposition and says more than 1,800 products across its Foodhalls now carry the branding. That gives it a large platform and an obvious incentive to push for change.
The difficult regulatory question is how far plain English can go without weakening scientific accuracy. Consumers do not need euphemism, but nor should a tin of beans require a translation service.
M&S has found a credible pressure point: the fibre gap is a public-health concern, yet the language available at the shelf can make a simple dietary message feel oddly remote. If the aim is to get more people eating beans, the first obstacle should probably not be the sentence on the label.
