High fiber study
Healthy news! A new study has just been published reporting the heart-healthy benefits of high-fiber fruits such as apples and grains, and challenging the long-term wisdom of low-carb diets. The study is good news for fans of high-fiber apples.
“ …consume a diet that includes an abundance of fiber-rich foods to prevent coronary heart disease… ”
Researchers estimated the association between dietary fiber intake and risk of coronary heart disease by evaluating data from 10 prospective cohort studies in the United States and Europe involving 91,058 men and 245,186 women that measured the amount of fiber in participants' diets over a period of 6-10 years. For every 10 grams of fiber consumed per day, the risk of developing heart disease decreased 14 percent, and the risk of dying from heart disease decreased 27 percent. Fiber from fruits appeared to be slightly more protective than cereal fiber, lowering the risk of coronary disease death by 30 percent. The study was reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Findings Challenge Low-/No-Carb Diets
These findings make the case for increasing consumption of high-fiber apples and other foods for better health, joining previous research findings about high-fiber foods, the authors noted - and challenging the long-term wisdom of diets that discourage consumption of high-fiber carbohydrates in the process.
"These recommendations to consume a diet that includes an abundance of fiber-rich foods to prevent coronary heart disease are based on a wealth of consistent scientific evidence,” Pereira and his colleagues wrote in the journal.
“ …consumers should embrace, not avoid, fiber- and phytonutrient-rich fruits… ”
“Quality of carbohydrates is important,” said Dr. Dianne Hyson, R.D., a professor at Sacramento State University who is considered the nation's leading authority on apple health benefits research. “These findings indicate that consumers should embrace, not avoid, fiber- and phytonutrient-rich fruits like apples for their better health.”
Abstract
Source: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/4/370
Archives of Internal Medicine
Vol. 164 No. 4, February 23, 2004
Dietary Fiber and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease
A Pooled Analysis of Cohort Studies
Mark A. Pereira, PhD; Eilis O'Reilly, MSc; Katarina Augustsson, PhD; Gary E. Fraser, MBChB, PhD; Uri Goldbourt, PhD; Berit L. Heitmann, PhD; Goran Hallmans, MD, PhD; Paul Knekt, PhD; Simin Liu, MD, ScD; Pirjo Pietinen, DSc; Donna Spiegelman, ScD; June Stevens, MS, PhD; Jarmo Virtamo, MD; Walter C. Willett, MD; Alberto Ascherio, MD Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:370-376.
Background
Few epidemiologic studies of dietary fiber intake and risk of
coronary heart disease have compared fiber types (cereal, fruit, and vegetable)
or included sex-specific results. The purpose of this study was to conduct a
pooled analysis of dietary fiber and its subtypes and risk of coronary heart
disease.
Methods
We analyzed the original data from 10 prospective cohort studies
from the United States and Europe to estimate the association between dietary
fiber intake and the risk of coronary heart disease.
Results
Over 6 to 10 years of follow-up, 5249 incident total coronary cases
and 2011 coronary deaths occurred among 91 058 men and 245 186 women. After adjustment
for demographics, body mass index, and lifestyle factors, each 10-g/d increment
of energy-adjusted and measurement error–corrected total dietary fiber was associated
with a 14% (relative risk [RR], 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.78-0.96)
decrease in risk of all coronary events and a 27% (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.61-0.87)
decrease in risk of coronary death. For cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber intake
(not error corrected), RRs corresponding to 10-g/d increments were 0.90 (95%
CI, 0.77-1.07), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.70-0.99), and 1.00 (95% CI, 0.88-1.13), respectively,
for all coronary events and 0.75 (95% CI, 0.63-0.91), 0.70 (95% CI, 0.55-0.89),
and 1.00 (95% CI, 0.82-1.23), respectively, for deaths. Results were similar
for men and women.
Conclusion
Consumption of dietary fiber from cereals and fruits is inversely associated
with risk of coronary heart disease.
From the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Dr Pereira); Departments of Nutrition (Ms O'Reilly and Drs Willett and Ascherio), Epidemiology (Drs Spiegelman, Willett, and Ascherio), and Biostatistics (Dr Spiegelman), Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention (Dr Willett), Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine (Dr Willett), and Division of Preventive Medicine (Dr Liu), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; Department of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Dr Augustsson); Center for Health Research, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, Calif (Dr Fraser); Section of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Henry N. Neufeld Cardiac Research Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel (Dr Goldbourt); Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagan University Hospital, Copenhagan, Denmark (Dr Heitmann); Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umea University, Umea, Sweden (Dr Hallmans); National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland (Drs Knekt, Pietinen, and Virtamo); and Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Dr Stevens). The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.