New guidelines on what to eat and drink if you have chronic (long-term) constipation have been making news in recent days.

Much of the media coverage of the British Dietetic Association’s guidelines has focused on advice to eat kiwifruit every day.

Meanwhile, other recommendations have not received so much attention. One, in particular, marks a shift in managing chronic constipation. The guidelines don’t advise a high-fibre diet.

Here’s what the guidelines say help (and don’t help) to relieve chronic constipation.

What did the guidelines look at?

Researchers examined 75 clinical trials to come up with recommendations for food, drink and supplements for chronic constipation in adults.

The quality of the clinical trials varied and so they had to come up with a consensus on the quality of the trial data.

Given that constipation means different things to different people, they used a very broad definition for constipation. This encompassed what patients perceived to be constipation as well as definitions of constipation used in clinical trials. Chronic constipation is generally when someone passes few, hard stools over a period of at least three months.

The researchers produced 59 recommendations. However, the researchers said most of the recommendations were based on poor-quality evidence.