There are new reasons to think it may indeed be OK – a sharp reversal of past advice.

For years, doctors assumed that chunky little foods such as nuts and corn were bad for people with diverticulosis or diverticulitis – diseases of the colon in which tiny pouches, which can trap undigested food, develop in the colon wall. (Diverticulosis is the mere presence of the pouches; diverticulitis is when they become inflamed.)