More Fiber = Lower Death Rate

We've known for a while that fiber is good for you.  Roughage, our parents called it.  Many observational studies demonstrate an association between higher fiber intake and lower heart disease & cancer rates.  However, nihilists would argue that we have to die from something, so maybe a quick death from a heart attack wouldn't be such a bad thing.  The problem is that we can't necessarily control whether we succumb to cancer or from post-stroke complications.  That's why I'd rather hedge my bets and lower my risk as best I can.

Now comes new evidence, just published online yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, after following 567,169 men & women 50-71yo for 9+years, that higher dietary fiber is associated with 22% reduction in all-cause mortality (the Holy Grail for studies) in both men & women.  More intriguing was a link to statistically significantly lower rates of infectious & respiratory, as well as cardiovascular, causes of death, by 24-56% in men and 34-59% in women.

The next question then is how much?  It turns out that the lowest risk for men was in those who consumed on average over 29g fiber/day while lowest risk for women was in those who consumed on average close to 26g fiber/day.  Granted, those who consumed more fiber were also more likely to exercise vigorously, less likely to smoke, while drinking less alcohol and consuming less red meat, but the association remained intake after taking all the usual suspects into account.

Given that lofty daily goal, some of you will inevitably reach for the bottle . . . of fiber supplements.  After all, we're a nation in love with the quick and easy answer, always looking for a shortcut.  In this case, the authors pointed out the most of the infectious & respiratory disease benefits came from fiber obtained from whole grains.  Therefore, they recommend substituting whole grains (full of fiber) for refined carbohydrates (which can spike your blood glucose).

If you're a lumper, like me, rather than a splitter, this study supports a variation on the theme of low glycemic nutrition, Mediterranean diet, Paleolithic diet, etc.  In other words, this isn't earth shattering evidence but rather another piece piece of the nutrition puzzle.  So think carefully before you take that next bite.