On a low-carb diet, do you still need vegetables and fibre?

Dominic P. D'AgostinoPhD · physiologist and pharmacologist, University of South Florida

Yes. Keep eating fibrous and colourful vegetables, berries and nuts inside the carbohydrate budget.

What it rests onHe states it as his own considered opinion rather than as a trial result, and eats 50 to 100 g of carbohydrate a day himself with about a quarter of it as fibre. The general benefit of vegetables and fibre for adults rests on a large observational literature independent of him.

Shawn BakerMD · orthopedic surgeon and strength athlete

No. Remove all plant foods, and for IBS or chronic constipation remove dietary fibre completely rather than adding more.

What it rests onHe frames plant removal as an elimination protocol for people who react to plant compounds and to the carbohydrate load, not as an optimal-nutrition claim, and argues gut function often improves without plant fibre. His page cites no study for the fibre claim.