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Division of Preventive Medicine, Department
of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital
and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
02115, USA. simin.liu@channing.harvard.edu
OBJECTIVES:
This study was designed to examine the hypothesis
that higher intake of dietary fiber is inversely
related to the risk of cardiovascular disease
(CVD) and myocardial infarction (MI) in a
large prospective cohort of women. BACKGROUND:
Although dietary fiber has been suggested
to reduce the risk of coronary disease, few
prospective studies have examined the association
between the types and amounts of dietary
fiber and CVD risk, particularly among women.
METHODS:
In 1993, we used a semi-quantitative food
frequency questionnaire to assess dietary
fiber intake among 39,876 female health professionals
with no previous history of CVD or cancer.
Women were subsequently followed for an average
of six years for incidence of nonfatal MI,
stroke, percutaneous transluminal coronary
angioplasty, coronary artery bypass graft
or death due to CVD confirmed by medical
records or death certificates. RESULTS: During
230,006 person-years of follow-up, 570 incident
cases of CVD were documented, including 177
MIs.
After adjustment for age and randomized
treatment status, a significant inverse association
was observed between dietary fiber intake
and CVD risk. Comparing the highest quintile
of fiber intake (median: 26.3 g/day) with
the lowest quintile (median: 12.5 g/day),
the relative risks (RR) were 0.65 (95% confidence
interval [CI]: 0.51, 0.84) for total CVD
and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.72) for MI. Additional
adjustment for CVD risk factors reduced the
RRs to 0.79 (95% CI: 0.58, 1.09) for total
CVD and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.36, 1.22) for MI.
The
inverse trends across categories generally
remained, although they were no longer statistically
significant. Inverse relations were observed
between both soluble and insoluble fiber
and risk of CVD and MI, and among those who
had never smoked and those with body mass
index <25.
CONCLUSIONS: A higher intake
of dietary fiber was associated with a lower
risk of CVD and MI, although the association
was not statistically significant after further
adjusting for multiple confounding factors.
Nevertheless, these prospective data generally
support current dietary recommendations to
increase the consumption of fiber-rich whole
grains and fruits and vegetables as a primary
preventive measure against CVD.
PMID: 11755286
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] |
