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Dietary Fiber Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Disease?

Dietary Fiber Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Disease?

Is there a miracle treatment for reducing cardiovascular disease?  Perhaps the title of this blog post is someone disingenuous, but the intent on grabbing your attention is not…  To clarify, I am not one to suggest that there is a ‘natural’ miracle cure for any type of disease.  However, with that being said, there are plenty of things that we can do to improve our health including the use of dietary changes, exercise, and some dietary supplements as well.

Though dietary fiber may not exactly be a ‘miracle cure,’ the results of a recent study suggest that increasing dietary fiber intake from natural sources is associated with a reduction in classical as well as novel cardiovascular risk factors in a high-risk cohort.

For some basics about dietary fiber click the following text–  Dietary Fiber Cheat Sheet.

Study results:

Increasing dietary fiber intake from natural sources resulted in statistically significant reductions in the following:

  • Body waist circumference (Yup, the old ‘love handles.’)
  • Blood pressure
  • Fasting glucose
  • Total Cholesterol
  • C-reactive protein

Well, given that dietary fiber from natural sources is so beneficial to our health, why don’t we choose to eat more of it??? New guidelines suggest that men should consume 38 g per day while women should consume 25 g.

Reference:

  1. Estruch R, Martinez-Gonzalez MA, Corella D, Basora-Gallisá J, Ruiz-Gutierrez V, Covas MI, Fiol M, Gómez-Gracia E, Lopez-Sabater MC, Escoda R, Pena MA, Diez-Espino J, Lahoz C, Lapetra J, Saez G, Ros E. Effects of dietary fiber intake on risk factors for cardiovascular disease in subjects at high risk.  J Epidemiol Community Health. 2009 Mar 15.

2 Comments

  • Jarret Morrow

    As a follow-up to my recent blog post on dietary fiber, here are a few important things to note: "Average fiber intakes for US children and adults are less than half of the recommended levels." "Dietary fiber intake provides similar benefits for children as for adults. The recommended dietary fiber intakes for children and adults are 14 g/1000 kcal." Reference: Anderson JW, Baird P, Davis RH Jr, Ferreri S, Knudtson M, Koraym A, Waters V, Williams CL. Health benefits of dietary fiber. Nutr Rev. 2009 Apr;67(4):188-205.

  • Wendy

    Great post about dietary fiber! I've subscribed to your blog and I look forward to more great posts! Also, the "eat your..." picture's hilarious!

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