0 Dietary Fiber May Reduce Risk Of Death From Heart Disease

Research from Japan this month finds that dietary fiber from fruit and cereals/grains, but not from vegetables, reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease:

Dietary Fiber Intake Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease among Japanese Men and Women, The Journal of Nutrition, August 2010

The study which involved over 58,000 men and women was prospective with a 14-year follow-up.

Both soluble and insoluble fiber provided benefit, but insoluble reduced risk more than soluble. Fruit fiber reduced risk more than cereal/grain fiber.

The findings are in good company:

"The inverse associations of fruit and cereal fiber intakes, but not vegetable fiber intake, with mortality from [coronary heart disease] in the present study were consistent with findings from previous studies: the Womens Health study, Nurse Health study, Cardiovascular Health Study, and the pooled analysis of 10 American and European cohort studies."

Possible mechanisms:

• Fiber, especially soluble, may improve lipid profile via cholesterol lowering.
  
• Fiber may lower blood pressure
  
• Fiber may reduce abdominal obesity
  
• Fiber may improve insulin sensitivity
  
• Fiber may inhibit a postprandial rise in glucose and triglycerides
  
• Fiber, especially insoluble, may improve fibrinolytic activity (reduce blood clotting)

Those in the highest fiber intake group consumed about 14 grams/day, about double what those in the lowest intake group consumed. The authors state this may have been underestimated and that the actual mean (not maximum) fiber intake was about 15 grams/day.

The hazard ratio, in the highest vs. lowest quintile, for insoluble fiber:

• For men: 0.48
  
• For women: 0.49

Insoluble fiber cut their risk of death from coronary heart disease in half.

The American Heart Association recommends adults consume about 25 grams of fiber a day from foods rather than supplements.

These finding dont bode well for low-carb, low-cereal-fiber Atkins-like diets.
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