High Fibre Diet Reduces Death Risk, Chronic Diseases

Researchers said people who eat diets that are high in fibre have lower risk of death and chronic diseases such as stroke or cancer. According to findings of a new meta-analysis of existing research, published in the journal ‘The Lancet,’ compared with people who consume low fibre, higher intakes of fibre results in a reduced incidence of a surprisingly broad range of relevant diseases including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.

The analysis found a 15 to 30 per cent reduced risk of death and chronic diseases in people who included the most fibre in their diets, compared with those with the lowest intake. Also, a fibre-rich diet was linked, on average, to a 22 per cent reduced risk of stroke, a 16 per cent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer, and a 30 per cent reduced risk of death from coronary heartdisease. 

Based on the research, a Professor of Human Nutrition and Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand, Jim Mann, who is a co-author of the study, recommended 25 grams (0.88 ounces) to 29 grams (1.02 ounces) of fibre consumption each day, though, higher amounts were even more beneficial, according to the analysis of the study.

Most people globally consume about 20 grams (0.70 ounces) of dietary fibre per day, Mann said of the findings. However, a 15-gram (0.52ounce) increase in whole grains consumed per day was associated with a two per cent to 19 per cent reduction in total deaths and incidences of coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. 

Dietary fibre includes plant-based carbohydrates such as whole-grain cereal, seeds and some legumes including peas, chickpeas, lentils, lupin beans, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind. Quoting Andrew Reynolds, a co-author of the new meta-analysis of existing research, who is a researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand, the ‘CNN’ reported that Fibre’s health benefits have been recorded “by over 100 years of research.”

Reynolds’ team was commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to inform future fibre intake recommendations, the report stated. The researchers analysed over 180 observational studies and 50 clinical trials from the past four decades; that’s the strength of the analysis said Mann, adding, “The health benefits of dietary fibre appear to be even greater than we thought previously.”

Categories: Food And Nutrition