Dietary fiber may reduce risk of death from cardiovascular, infectious, and respiratory diseases
TUESDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Dietary fiber consumption is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause death in both men and women, according to a study published online Feb. 14 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Yikyung Park, Sc.D., from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., and colleagues examined the association between dietary fiber intake and total mortality and death from specific causes in the prospective National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. A baseline questionnaire was used to evaluate diet, and cause of death was identified by the National Death Index Plus.
The investigators identified 20,126 deaths in men and 11,330 deaths in women during an average of nine years of follow-up. Intake of dietary fiber was associated with a significantly reduced risk of all-cause death in men and women. Dietary fiber consumption reduced the mortality risk from cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, and respiratory disease by 24 to 56 percent in men and by 34 to 59 percent in women. Increased dietary fiber intake was associated with reduced cancer death in men. Dietary fiber from grains was significantly inversely associated with all-cause and cause-specific death in both sexes.
"Our study shows that dietary fiber may reduce the risk of premature death from all causes, especially from cardiovascular disease and infectious and respiratory diseases," the authors write.
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