Low Dietary Fibre Intake Ups Cardiovascular Risk

A recent study has found a link between low dietary fibre intake and cardiometabolic risks including metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular inflammation and obesity.


The researchers looked at the surveillance data from 23,168 subjects in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 to examine the role dietary fibre in heart health. They took a closer look at possible sex, age, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in dietary fibre consumption, as well as examined the association between dietary fibre intake and various cardio-metabolic risk factors.

According to senior investigator Cheryl R. Clark, MD, ScD, Center for Community Health and Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, the study confirms persistent differences in dietary fibre intake among socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic subpopulations over time.

The study underlines the importance of increasing dietary fibre intake as there is a direct relation between low dietary fibre and an increased risk for cardiovascular conditions. Participants with the highest prevalence of metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and obesity were in the lowest quintile of dietary fibre intake.

The study appeared in The American Journal of Medicine.

Read more Health News.