Tim Spector urges people to eat one thing in diet to ‘reduce risk of cancers’

Tim Spector is urging people to include one item in their diet to reduce the “risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and multiple cancers”.

Talking in an Instagram video, the King’s College London professor stressed that whilst many people focus on protein, it’s not all you need in your diet. Prof Spector encouraged people to include more fibre in your diet as he finds many people forget about its benefits.

Urging people to stop focusing on one thing when it comes to food – like protein – he asked people to consider what food items as a whole has to offer instead. He went on to compare chicken, tofu and tempeh stating the latter two are more beneficial thanks to their fibre content.

The health expert said that many of us are “deficient” in fibre and that choosing tofu or tempeh could be more beneficial as not only do they contain protein, like chicken, but they also contain fibre which chicken doesn’t.

He explained: “You may have heard of tofu, that gives you around 16 grams [of protein] per serving. I want to tell you about its older sister, tempeh which has even more protein that the tofu, 21 grams, which is about equivalent to that of a chicken breast.

“But importantly both tofu and especially tempeh have fibre which the chicken breast absolutely doesn’t.”

Talking about the tempeh, he stresses: “When you’re picking your foods, don’t just think about one narrow thing like protein. Think of all the other things it can bring. Fibre is particularly something we’re all deficient in and your gut microbes will love you for it.”

He urges people to think of tempeh as a type of “super tofu” explaining that not only does it have more protein (~21g/100g compared to ~16g/100g in firm tofu – equivalent to chicken breast at around ~24g/100g) but 100g of tempeh also provides six grams of fibre, three times more than tofu.

Explaining in his caption why consuming fibre is important, the author of Food for Life: Your Guide to the New Science of Eating Well – a Sunday Times bestseller, revealed: “Over 90 percent of people in the US and UK aren’t eating the recommended 30g of fibre per day.

Braised red cabbage fennel and apple, sweet potato parsnip mash with Tempeh fillets — The health guru ahs said we should have more fibre
(Image: Getty)

“This is thought to be a driver of human gut microbiome depletion and an associated increase in disease. Studies have linked eating more fibre with a reduction in your risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and multiple cancers”.

With many people focused on protein, the health and welbeing guru recommends focusing on fibre instead. He does however warn that you may not want to do this if “you have a specific need for a high protein diet i.e. if you’re an athlete, you’re elderly or you’re following a vegan diet.”

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