Like Fiber? Helps With Diabetes Risk!

Hopefully you like fiber, because new research shows that people who eat a diet high in fiber-rich whole grains are less likely to develop diabetes or heart disease.
A new review of past studies was conducted for the American Society for Nutrition. In a position statement, the group said the evidence suggests foods with cereal fiber or mixtures of whole grains and bran are "modestly associated" with a reduced disease risk.
Cereal fibers, including breakfast cereals, breads, and brown rice with high fiber contents, had the strongest evidence for benefit, according to Teresa Fung, a nutrition researcher at Simmons College in Boston.
"Cereal fiber may be one of the protective ingredients of whole grains that contribute to lower disease risk," said Lu Qi, one of the study's authors from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, in an e-mail to Reuters Health.
Qi's research team looked at 28 studies that looked at the risk of developing diabetes among people who ate different amounts of whole grains and bran, as well as 33 studies on the risk of cardiovascular disease, and 19 on obesity.
Overall they found that those who ate the most cereal fiber or whole grains and bran had an 18 to 40 percent lower chance of getting the disease than those who ate little to no cereal fibers. They also had a 22 to 43 percent lower chance of having a stroke, and 14 to 26 percent less likely of having a cardiovascular problem.
Diets high in fiber were also linked to a lower body weight, but the effects are minimal. People who ate a large portion of fiber-rich grains lost just one more pound than everyone else.
The analysis for this study was paid for by the Kellogg Company, as well as other nutrition and food companies.
A large, long-term study may not even show the effects of having a fiber-rich diet.
"It may simply be, people (who eat cereal fiber) are full longer, and therefore they don't eat so much, and they're leaner," said Fung, who was not involved in the new study.
"Another possibility is people who eat a lot of cereal fiber, they just don't eat a lot of cereal fiber. They're also more healthy" in other ways, she added.
Reference: Reuters
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