HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Fiber, Heart Health, and Mortality

Study Abstract

Background: Little is known about the effects of dietary fiber intake on long-term mortality.

Objective: We aimed to study recent and long-term dietary fiber intake in relation to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality.

Design: The effects of recent and long-term dietary fiber intakes on mortality were investigated in the Zutphen Study, a cohort of 1373 men born between 1900 and 1920 and examined repeatedly between 1960 and 2000. During that period, 1130 men died, 348 as a result of coronary heart disease. Hazard ratios were obtained from time-dependent Cox regression models.

Results: Every additional 10 g of recent dietary fiber intake per day reduced coronary heart disease mortality by 17% (95% CI: 2%, 30%) and all-cause mortality by 9% (0%, 18%). The strength of the association between long-term dietary fiber intake and all-cause mortality decreased from age 50 y (hazard ratio: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.93) until age 80 y (0.99; 0.87, 1.12). We observed no clear associations for different types of dietary fiber.

Conclusions: A higher recent dietary fiber intake was associated with a lower risk of both coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. For long-term intake, the strength of the association between dietary fiber and all-cause mortality decreased with increasing age.

Study Information

Martinette T Streppel, Marga C Ocké, Hendriek C Boshuizen, Frans J Kok and Daan Kromhout
Dietary fiber intake in relation to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality over 40 y: the Zutphen Study.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2008 October
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands (MTS, MCO, and HCB), and the Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands.