OSAKA, Japan—Fiber, but not from vegetables, was once again linked to good heart health in a recently published study from Japan. Researchers from Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine found dietary intakes of fiber, both insoluble and soluble fibers, and especially fruit and cereal fibers, may reduce risk of mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) (J Nutr. 2010 Aug;140(8):1445-1453). Surprisingly, intakes vegetable fiber did not reduce the risk of mortality from CHD in the study.
After following almost 60,000 people for 14 years the researchers found total, insoluble and soluble dietary fiber intakes were inversely associated with risk of mortality from CHD and total cardiovascular disease (CVD) for both men and women. For fiber sources, intakes of fruit and cereal fibers, but not vegetable fiber were inversely associated with risk of mortality from CHD.
The researchers noted it’s been well proven that dietary fiber protects against heart disease, but evidence in Asia is limited, so they focused on this population. In a prospective study of 58,730 Japanese men and women aged 40 to 79 years, participants recorded their fiber intake using a self-administered food-frequency questionnaires. The participants were followed from 1988 to 1990 until the end of 2003. During follow-up, a total of 2,080 CVD deaths (983 strokes, 422 CHD and 675 other cardiovascular disease (CVD)) were documented.
For men, the multivariable HR (95 percent CI) for CHD in the highest vs. the lowest quintiles were 0.81 [(95 percent CI, 0.61-1.09); P-trend = 0.02], 0.48 [(95 percent CI, 0.27-0.84); P-trend < 0.001], and 0.71 [(95 percent CI, 0.41-0.97); P-trend = 0.04] for total, insoluble and soluble fiber, respectively. The respective HR (95 percent CI) for women were 0.80 [(95 percent CI, 0.57-0.97); P-trend = 0.01], 0.49 [(95 percent CI, 0.27-0.86); P-trend = 0.004], and 0.72 [(95 percent CI, 0.34-0.99); P-trend = 0.03], respectively.