A recent study on Science Daily reports that lack of fiber in one’s diet may cause an increased risk in heart-related conditions including metabolic syndrome, obesity, and cardiovascular inflammation.
Data on 23,168 individuals who participated in a previous US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2010 revealed that the average person only takes approximately 16.2g of fiber a day – far below any of the recommended levels for any age group or gender. The data also showed that there was a link between low fiber intake and an increased risk in cardiovascular-related diseases.
“Overall, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and obesity each decreased with increasing quintiles of dietary fiber intake," senior investigator Cheryl R. Clark says. “Compared with participants in the lowest quintile of dietary fiber intake, participants in the highest quintile of dietary fiber intake had a statistically significant lower risk of having the metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and obesity."
To decrease the risk of disease, researchers recommend regularly eating kinds of food that are high in fiber, including whole grain bread, brown rice, black beans, peas, almonds, cereals, raspberries, and oranges.
(Photo by Stacy Spensley via Flickr Creative Commons)
