Role Of Dietary Fiber Research Articles

Diet and gastrointestinal disease

Diet therapy in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease has become better defined. Because maldigestion or malabsorption frequently occurs, malnutrition is a common complication. Careful assessment of nutritional status by the health care providers is mandatory. Diet therapy, by eliminating offending foods such as lactose or gluten or by addition of specialized enteral formulas containing MCT, or elemental diets can be instituted with marked relief in symptoms. The role of dietary fiber is now better defined in the treatment and prevention of many diseases. Further refinement and rational uses of diet therapy can be expected in future years.

The role of dietary fiber in the etiology of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

To investigate the hypothesis that a low intake of dietary fiber could increase the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), we ascertained prior dietary intake of 242 persons with known diabetes and 460 persons without a prior diagnosis of diabetes among 20- to 74-year-old residents of two counties in southern Colorado from 1984 to 1986. When persons with diabetes were compared to nondiabetic controls, a higher reported fiber intake prior to diagnosis was found among persons with diabetes. A decrease in fiber of 10 g/d was associated with a decrease in risk of NIDDM of 0.75 (95% confidence interval: 0.59 to 0.96), rather than an increase as hypothesized. However, when the diabetic group was limited to those with diabetes for less than 5 years, this association was no longer present. Two further analyses were carried out on 1317 persons without a prior diagnosis of diabetes seen between 1984 and 1988. Among these persons, current fiber intake was inversely associated with fasting plasma insulin concentration. However, fiber explained less than 1% of the variation in fasting insulin levels. When persons with previously undiagnosed NIDDM were compared to normal controls, the odds ratio relating a decrease in fiber consumption of 10 g/d to NIDDM was 1.21 (95% confidence interval: 0.70 to 2.10) adjusting for calorie and carbohydrate intake. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, and body mass index. The inconsistent findings reported here do not support the hypothesis that increasing dietary fiber intake could reduce the future occurrence of NIDDM.

Binding of iron by three starchy legumes in the presence of iron alone, with calcium or with calcium, zinc, magnesium and copper

Iron (Fe) binding capacity of butter beans, broad beans and lentils in the raw, cooked and fibre-rich fraction (FRF) forms; with Fe addition alone, with calcium (Ca) and with Ca, zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg) and copper (Cu) at concentrations based on physiological and dietary considerations, was investigated in conditions simulating the small intestine. The FRFs were found to bind significantly more Fe, indicating the substantial role of dietary fibre in Fe binding. More Fe was bound to legumes studied when Fe was added together with Ca than separate Fe addition. Further more Fe binding was noted in the presence of Ca, Zn, Mg and Cu.

The Role of Dietary Fibre in the Diet

The Role of Dietary Fibre in the Diet

Fiber and cancer

The role of dietary fiber in colon cancer is still not clear. Ecological studies suggested a protective role for high fiber intake, but more recent analysis shows similar intakes of dietary fiber in populations with high or low incidence of colon cancer. Case-control studies generally do not support a protective role for fiber. The data suggest that the effects of fiber must be considered in the context of the total diet and interactions of dietary components. A role for levels of energy intake is not excluded.

Molecular genetic approaches to the analysis of colorectal cancer

After lung cancer, colorectal tumours are the most common in Western society. In the UK over 19 000 people a year die of colorectal cancer and the involvement of both environmental and genetic factors has been suggested for the high incidence of this disease. A number of studies have focused on the role of dietary fibre, vitamin A deficiency and alterations in gut flora due to dietary changes, but the involvement of any of these factors has yet to be fully substantiated by epidemiological studies. Colorectal cancer is an ideal system for investigating the multistage progression of tumours. A number of clearly defined stages have been described at the histological level (Figure 1). Normal colonic surface epithelium comprises simple columnar epithelium with tubular glands in the lamina propria arranged regularly in rows with large numbers of mucus secreting goblet cells. This smooth surface undergoes a number of changes during tumour formation. Initially, hyperplastic regions of rapidly growing epithelium are seen; these lead to the formation of polyps or adenomas, which are outgrowths into the lumen of the colon. Polyps do not necessarily progress to form tumours but it is thought that all tumours arise from such growths. They vary in shape and size from large pedunculated growths to barely visible flatish outgrowths. A number of different conditions have been associated with polyps (Table 1). The final stage in the cancer process is

Interrelationship between Insulin, Dietary Fiber, and Exercise in the Management of Pregnant Diabetics

The metabolic changes during pregnancy are characterized as "accelerated starvation" and "facilitated anabolism" which are, in turn, worsened by the presence of diabetes mellitus. The current roles of dietary fiber and exercise as adjunctive therapeutic modalities in the management of diabetic pregnancies are discussed herein.

Dietary fiber and health. Council on Scientific Affairs

During the last 18 years, considerable research has been conducted on the role of dietary fiber in health and disease. Interest was stimulated by epidemiologic studies that associated a low intake of dietary fiber with the incidence of colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases and disorders. Dietary fiber is not a single substance. There are significant differences in the physiological effects of the various components of dietary fiber. A Recommended Dietary Allowance for dietary fiber has not been established. However, an adequate amount of dietary fiber can be obtained by choosing several servings daily from a variety of fiber-rich foods such as whole-grain breads and cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.

Role of Dietary Fibre from Bengal Gram (Cicer Arietinum) as Hypocholesterolaemic Agent- Effect on Erythrocyte Membrane-Bound Enzymes and Haemotological Parameters

Role of Dietary Fibre from Bengal Gram (Cicer Arietinum) as Hypocholesterolaemic Agent- Effect on Erythrocyte Membrane-Bound Enzymes and Haemotological Parameters

The role of dietary fiber in gastrointestinal disease

The most consistent benefit of consumption of adequate dietary fiber is regular laxation; this effect alone justifies inclusion of fiber in the diet, in view of the enormous expenditure on drugs for digestive diseases. Dietary fiber has proved effective in decreasing symptoms of diverticular disease, Crohn's disease, and hemorrhoids in a limited number of small clinical studies. Fiber may also reduce the incidence of gallstone formation. Fiber is currently being touted as protection against colon cancer. However, the epidemiological and experimental data do not provide convincing evidence that fiber alone is a major determinant of risk for colon cancer. Furthermore, the data from international comparisons indicating that fiber is protective against colon cancer can be used in a similar simplistic manner to suggest that fiber may be a risk factor for stomach cancer. This should not dissuade individuals from obtaining adequate fiber from a wide variety of foods but should caution them against consumption of excessive amounts of fiber from a single source or from dietary supplements.

Dietary fiber: its role in preventing gastrointestinal disease.

Only in relatively recent years has the role of dietary fiber, once thought to be an unnecessary and even undesirable by-product, begun to be appreciated in the maintenance of health. Research now indicates that a deficiency of fiber in the modern western diet may contribute to a host of diseases. Inadequate dietary fiber produces low fecal bulk, which in turn causes a high intraluminal pressure in the colon and may contribute to diverticular disease, appendicitis, and even carcinoma. This paper examines the evidence for these conclusions and the mechanisms for production of chronic gastrointestinal disease.

Important Advances in Oncology: 1986

These editors must have been taskmasters. They must have held contributors and the publisher to a strict deadline, and the result is that relatively rare commodity—a timely, hardbound book, an update that is truly new. The volume is handsome enough, with a reasonable price, including even several elegant color plates where black-and-white photography would be useless because of subject matter (in the case of nevi) or less descriptive (in the schematic of chromosomal defects). The text is divided into two parts— basic research and clinical progress— each comprising half the content. There is ample bridging in most chapters. Basic chapters always note the impact on the clinical sphere, and the clinical chapters demand an awareness of the background science. Overall, the emphasis is clearly toward the clinical. A chapter in the basic research section on the role of dietary fiber in cancer prevention has a very non-basic science

Dietary fiber and cancer.

There is considerable current interest in the role of dietary fiber in the etiology of a number of diseases prevalent in the Western world. Prominent among those disease states whose prevalence is correlated with diets deficient in fiber is cancer of the large bowel. The high level of interest in the fiber hypothesis is due, in large part, to the epidemiologic observations of Burkitt and his colleagues1–3 who perceived that one factor common among diseases of the large bowel was a diet low in fiber. Drasar and Irving,4 on the other hand, correlated incidence of breast and colon cancer with a number of environmental factors and found a high positive correlation with total fat and animal protein, but practically none with dietary fiber (Table 15-1).

Dietary fiber intake and diverticular disease of the colon--a case control study

To see the role of dietary fiber (DF) in the pathogenesis of diverticular disease of the colon, we conducted a case control study at two urban (T and W) and one rural (J) hospitals. Fiftyone subjects with colonic diverticulosis (aged 62.3±8.8 years) were compared with 64 control subjects (60.5±7.4 years), regarding daily consumption of nutrients.The study group consumed significantly less DF than the control group (14.0±4.0g/day, 16.4±5.6g/day respectively, p<0.05) at the urban hospitals. The same tendency was also noted at the rural hospital, but there was no statistically significant difference. The difference in DF intake between study and control groups was derived mainly from DF in vegetables.Our findings support the hypothesis that DF acts as a protective factor in the formation of colonic diverticulosis.

Acute appendicitis and dietary fiber.

The role of dietary fiber in the cause of acute appendicitis was evaluated. By means of food diaries the average daily fiber consumption was determined in 31 patients with acute appendicitis and in 30 control patients, matched for age and sex. The average daily dietary fiber intake was 17.4 g in the group with appendicitis and 21.0 g in the control group. The difference is statistically significant. Adjustment for the total energy intake in each instance did not change this conclusion. The results support the hypothesis that diet, in particular a lack of fiber, may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of acute appendicitis.

The role of dietary fiber in satiety, glucose, and insulin: studies with fruit and fruit juice

Healthy volunteers ingested sugar-equivalent meals of oranges and orange juice and of grapes and grape juice. Satiety, assessed by two subjective scoring systems, was greater after whole fruit than after juice and the return of appetite was delayed. With oranges, as previously reported with apples, there was a significantly smaller insulin response to fruit than to juice and less postabsorptive fall in plasma glucose. With grapes, the insulin response to the whole fruit was, paradoxically, more than that to the juice, while postabsorptive glucose values were similar. The glucose in grapes appeared to be more insulinogenic than that in oranges and apples. Conversely, grape juice evoked less insulin than expected, possibly because its high osmolality delayed gastric emptying. However, diluting it did not increase its insulinogenicity. The plasma insulin and glucose responses to fruit appear to depend on the fiber as well as the glucose content of the fruit.

The Irritable Gut: Functional Disorders of the Alimentary Canal

Following an introductory description of the neural, muscular, and hormonal role in intestinal motility, the author discusses the importance of healthy bowel habits and the role of dietary fiber in normal defecation. He then briefly tries to relate the response of the gut to emotions and the importance of sigmoidoscopy in the evaluation of the bowel. The chapters are short, and the explanations are brief—perhaps a bit too brief for the student or generalist interested in basic principles that will permit him to build his understanding of this important segment of gastroenterology from them. For the gastroenterologist the material is rather oversimplified. Discussion of practical clinical aspects of constipation, functional diarrhea, gas, and dyspepsia is replete with numerous pointers that will render diagnosis and management of their problems much easier. In his discussion of laxatives, the author, recognizing and acknowledging the inadequacy and inaccuracy of the classification, nevertheless uses it

The role of dietary fiber in gastrointestinal disorders

The role of dietary fiber in gastrointestinal disorders

The Role of Dietary Fibre in the Prevention and Treatment of Diseases of the Colon

The Role of Dietary Fibre in the Prevention and Treatment of Diseases of the Colon