Want to hear a fun festive fact?

“Christmas constipation” is pretty common, because, the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation says, the high-fat and high-sugar foods of the season “are a perfect recipe of factors that leads to pain, straining and constipation.”

Even if you’re not indulging in loads of Crimbo snacks, Britain is a pretty backed-up nation anyway, with one in seven adults suffering from constipation at any given time. 

So gastrointestinal (GI) surgeon, author, and lecturer Dr Karan Rajan’s TikTok about the four foods he swears by to improve his gut health, couldn’t have come at a better time. 

In the video, the doctor shared a fruit that “has been shown in research studies to be as effective as psyllium husk and prunes to improve the symptoms of bloating and constipation.” 

Which is?

Kiwifruit is “particularly rich in soluble fibre which promotes softer stool and increases stool frequency, without the associated side-effects of some laxatives,” Dr Karan shared.

A 2020 presentation by researchers from Michigan Medicine at the American College of Gastroenterology meeting found that prunes and psyllium husk were about as effective as one another (67% and 64% respectively) at getting rid of constipation. 

Kiwi held its own at 45%, but psyllium husk created bloating among 33% of participants (prunes was 36%), and both psyllium husk and prunes led to 18-19% of study members complaining of gas or stomach pain. 

Meanwhile only 11% of kiwi fruit eaters complained of bloating, and there were no reports of stomach pain or flatulence. 

Another 2022 study found that “Two gold kiwifruit daily are as effective as fibre-matched psyllium in treating constipation in adults and should be considered as a treatment option.” 

They didn’t notice any difference in the results of the two treatments.

Do I have to eat kiwi with the skin on to get the benefits?

Both studies included two peeled kiwifruit a day.

But if you can face chomping down on the fruit’s skin, healthcare providers and researchers at The Cleveland Clinic says “Eating a whole kiwi with the skin on increases its fibre content by a whopping 50% more than if you eat it without its skin.”

Fibre is a good way to relieve constipation because it bulks out your stool and draws more moisture to it, making it easier to pass.

The more you know, I guess...