Dietary Fiber Linked to Health

A  series  of  systematic  reviews  and  meta-analyses  of  prospective  studies  and  randomized  controlled  trials with relatively high intakes of dietary fiber and whole grains revealed complementary findings, and striking dose-response evidence indicates that the relationships to several non-communicable diseases could be causal. The analyses included about 135 million person-years of data from 185 prospective studies and 58 clinical trials with 4635 adult participants. Observational  data  suggest  a  15–30%  decrease  in  all-cause  and  cardiovascular  mortality,  and  incidence  of  coronary  heart  disease,  stroke  incidence  and  mortality,  type  2  diabetes,  and  colorectal  cancer  when  comparing  the  highest  dietary  fiber  consumers  with  the  lowest  consumers. Clinical  trials  show  significantly  lower  bodyweight,  systolic  blood  pressure,  and  total  cholesterol  when  comparing  higher  with  lower  intakes  of  dietary  fiber.  Risk  reduction  associated  with  a  range  of  critical  outcomes  was  greatest  when daily intake of dietary fiber was between 25 g and 29 g. Dose-response curves suggested that higher intakes of dietary fiber could confer even greater benefit to protect against cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal and breast cancer. Similar findings for whole grain intake were observed. Smaller or no risk reductions were found with  the  observational  data  when  comparing  the  effects  of  diets  characterized  by  low  rather  than  higher  glycemic  index  or  load.  Most people worldwide currently consume less than 20 g of dietary fiber per day. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/