Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsAmounts of FiberSide EffectsReliefHealth Benefits of FiberHigh Fiber Foods
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Amounts of Fiber
Side Effects
Relief
Health Benefits of Fiber
High Fiber Foods
While most people don’t eat enough fiber, eating too much of it can cause symptoms such as bloating, cramps, and constipation. In some cases, it could also lead to an intestinal blockage.
Fiber is the part of plant foods that the body can’t fully digest and that helps move food through your digestive system. The recommended amount is 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men.When increasing fiber in your diet, you can help reduce side effects through dietary changes, drinking lots of fluid, and exercising regularly.
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Too Much Fiber: Symptoms
If you’ve had too much fiber or increased your fiber intake too quickly, you may notice some uncomfortable side effects like:
In rare cases,bowel obstructionor blockage may occur.
Contact your healthcare provider or seek medical attention right away if you’re experiencing the following symptoms:
Dietary fiberincreases the weight and size of your stool and softens it, helping to ensure your stool meets the ideal standards, similar to both the size and consistency of a banana.While too much fiber can cause constipation, the right amount can help make it easier to poop.If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk.
Dietary fiberincreases the weight and size of your stool and softens it, helping to ensure your stool meets the ideal standards, similar to both the size and consistency of a banana.
While too much fiber can cause constipation, the right amount can help make it easier to poop.If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk.
How Much Fiber Is Too Much?
In general, theadequate intake of fiberis 14 grams for every 1,000 calories consumed daily. However, the exact recommendation may vary based on age, sex, and your medical history.
Here is The Institute of Medicine’s recommendation for daily fiber intake:
Children
Recommendations:
Women
Men
The right amount of fiber for you may be higher or lower than these amounts based on your genetics and medical history.
There is no maximum recommendation for the amount of fiber that is too much. Still, some information suggests more than 70 grams of fiber per day increases the risk of side effects.
Side Effects of Too Much Fiber
There are two primary types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Each type has slightly different effects in addition to the similar ones they have on digestion:
Despite the many health benefits of fiber, you can still have too much of a good thing.
Think of quickly increasing your fiber intake like going from lifting a 5-pound dumbbell to a 50-pound dumbbell. If all your muscles have been trained for is 5 pounds, then it will be difficult to lift 50 pounds because it’s too quick of an increase.
The same happens with fiber. If you drastically increase fiber intake, your digestive system isn’t ready for it, and you end up with symptoms of too much fiber like bloating, gas, and constipation.
The right amount of fiber for you may be different than other people. Some research suggests increasing fiber intake helps to relieveconstipationin people withirritable bowel syndrome(IBS).However, some people with IBS or other conditions don’t see any benefits, particularly when increasing insoluble fiber.
If you have questions about how much fiber is right for you, contact your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian for advice.
Relief From Too Much Fiber
If you’ve eaten too much fiber and are experiencing uncomfortable side effects, here are some following tips to help relieve your discomfort:
Your symptoms may go away later that day or after a couple of days, depending on how much fiber you’ve eaten. When the symptoms of eating too much fiber go away, introduce it back into your diet slowly.
To prevent experiencing symptoms of too much fiber:
While too much fiber can cause symptoms, it’s important to include fiber-rich foods as part of a healthy diet. Some of the health benefits of fiber include the following:
While you can consume fiber both in nutrition supplements and food, it’s usually best to try to meet your nutrition needs through whole foods (that are either not processed at all or are only minimally processed).
Most high-fiber foods contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. Still, some may be slightly higher in one type than the other.
Soluble Fiber Foods
Food high in soluble fiber include:
Insoluble Fiber Foods
Foods high in insoluble fiber include:
Summary
Fiber is an essential part of the diet, but it can be tricky to find the right balance for the amount of fiber best for you. If you eat too much fiber, you may experience symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation, abdominal discomfort, and pain.
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s fiber intake gap.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;11(1):80-85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Nebraska Medicine.Why does fiber make you poop?Victoria State Government.Constipation.Williams BA, Mikkelsen D, Flanagan BM, Gidley MJ.“Dietary fibre”: moving beyond the “soluble/insoluble” classification for monogastric nutrition, with an emphasis on humans and pigs.J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2019;10:45. doi:10.1186/s40104-019-0350-9Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO.The health benefits of dietary fibre.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3209. doi:10.3390/nu12103209University Hospitals.Constipation: Why more fiber may not be the answer.Kunzmann AT, Coleman HG, Huang WY, Kitahara CM, Cantwell MM, Berndt SI.Dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer and incident and recurrent adenoma in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(4):881-890. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.113282Soliman GA.Dietary fiber, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.Nutrients. 2019;11(5):1155. doi:10.3390/nu11051155Reynolds AN, Akerman AP, Mann J.Dietary fibre and whole grains in diabetes management: systematic review and meta-analyses.PLoS Med. 2020;17(3):e1003053. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003053O’Keefe SJD.The need to reassess dietary fiber requirements in healthy and critically ill patients.Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2018;47(1):219-229. doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2017.10.005
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s fiber intake gap.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;11(1):80-85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Nebraska Medicine.Why does fiber make you poop?Victoria State Government.Constipation.Williams BA, Mikkelsen D, Flanagan BM, Gidley MJ.“Dietary fibre”: moving beyond the “soluble/insoluble” classification for monogastric nutrition, with an emphasis on humans and pigs.J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2019;10:45. doi:10.1186/s40104-019-0350-9Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO.The health benefits of dietary fibre.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3209. doi:10.3390/nu12103209University Hospitals.Constipation: Why more fiber may not be the answer.Kunzmann AT, Coleman HG, Huang WY, Kitahara CM, Cantwell MM, Berndt SI.Dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer and incident and recurrent adenoma in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(4):881-890. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.113282Soliman GA.Dietary fiber, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.Nutrients. 2019;11(5):1155. doi:10.3390/nu11051155Reynolds AN, Akerman AP, Mann J.Dietary fibre and whole grains in diabetes management: systematic review and meta-analyses.PLoS Med. 2020;17(3):e1003053. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003053O’Keefe SJD.The need to reassess dietary fiber requirements in healthy and critically ill patients.Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2018;47(1):219-229. doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2017.10.005
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s fiber intake gap.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;11(1):80-85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Nebraska Medicine.Why does fiber make you poop?Victoria State Government.Constipation.Williams BA, Mikkelsen D, Flanagan BM, Gidley MJ.“Dietary fibre”: moving beyond the “soluble/insoluble” classification for monogastric nutrition, with an emphasis on humans and pigs.J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2019;10:45. doi:10.1186/s40104-019-0350-9Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO.The health benefits of dietary fibre.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3209. doi:10.3390/nu12103209University Hospitals.Constipation: Why more fiber may not be the answer.Kunzmann AT, Coleman HG, Huang WY, Kitahara CM, Cantwell MM, Berndt SI.Dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer and incident and recurrent adenoma in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(4):881-890. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.113282Soliman GA.Dietary fiber, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.Nutrients. 2019;11(5):1155. doi:10.3390/nu11051155Reynolds AN, Akerman AP, Mann J.Dietary fibre and whole grains in diabetes management: systematic review and meta-analyses.PLoS Med. 2020;17(3):e1003053. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003053O’Keefe SJD.The need to reassess dietary fiber requirements in healthy and critically ill patients.Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2018;47(1):219-229. doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2017.10.005
Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s fiber intake gap.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;11(1):80-85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079
Nebraska Medicine.Why does fiber make you poop?
Victoria State Government.Constipation.
Williams BA, Mikkelsen D, Flanagan BM, Gidley MJ.“Dietary fibre”: moving beyond the “soluble/insoluble” classification for monogastric nutrition, with an emphasis on humans and pigs.J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2019;10:45. doi:10.1186/s40104-019-0350-9
Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO.The health benefits of dietary fibre.Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3209. doi:10.3390/nu12103209
University Hospitals.Constipation: Why more fiber may not be the answer.
Kunzmann AT, Coleman HG, Huang WY, Kitahara CM, Cantwell MM, Berndt SI.Dietary fiber intake and risk of colorectal cancer and incident and recurrent adenoma in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(4):881-890. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.113282
Soliman GA.Dietary fiber, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.Nutrients. 2019;11(5):1155. doi:10.3390/nu11051155
Reynolds AN, Akerman AP, Mann J.Dietary fibre and whole grains in diabetes management: systematic review and meta-analyses.PLoS Med. 2020;17(3):e1003053. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003053
O’Keefe SJD.The need to reassess dietary fiber requirements in healthy and critically ill patients.Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2018;47(1):219-229. doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2017.10.005
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