High Fiber Results in Reduced Heart Disease Mortality

The Journal of Nutrition reports a reduction in the risk of dying from coronary heart disease (CHD) among men and women who consumed high fiber diets.*
Researchers evaluated data from 58,730 participants in The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risks, carried out between 1988 and 1990. Follow-up was conducted until the end of 2003, during which 422 deaths from CHD, 983 from stroke and 675 from other cardiovascular disease were documented.
For men whose total, insoluble, and soluble fiber intakes were among the highest one-fifth of participants, there was a lower risk of dying of heart disease compared to those whose intakes were among the lowest fifth. Similar risk reductions were observed among women.
“Our results constitute supporting evidence that higher intake of both insoluble and soluble fiber, especially fruit and cereal fibers may contribute to the prevention of CHD in Japanese men and women,” the authors conclude.
Editor’s note: The authors list fiber’s cholesterol- and blood pressure-reducing effects, as well as its ability to improve insulin sensitivity, inhibit post-meal rises in glucose and triglycerides, and increase fibrinolytic activity, as mechanisms that prevent or delay the development of atherosclerosis.
—D. Dye
Reference
* Available at: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/140/8/1445. Accessed August 23, 2010.