Cereal, Fruit, and Vegetable Fiber Intake and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Individuals

Abstract

URRENTLY 35 MILLION PERsons aged 65 years or older live in the United States, accounting for nearly 13% of the population. 1 These older adults are the fastest-growing segment of the population, and by 2030, it is projected that 70 million persons, or 1 in every 5, will be 65 years old or older. 1 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability among these older adults, who also account for a disproportionately large share of the $200 billion annual US health care expenditures for CVD. 2 Better understanding of CVD risks and outcomes in this population is clearly of merit; however, relatively few studies have focused on such relationships in elderly persons, especially with regard to diet and CVD risk.Dietary fiber, comprising nondigestible polysaccharides, naturally occurring resistant starch and oligosaccharides, and lignins in plants, 3 has been associated with reduced incidence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in predominantly middle-aged populations. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Potential cardiovascular benefits of dietary fiber include effects on serum lipid levels, postprandial glu-

Dietary Fiber Intake Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease among Japanese Men and Women , ,

“…The inverse associations of fruit and cereal fiber intakes, but not vegetable fiber intake, with mortality from CHD in the present study were consistent with findings from previous studies: the Women's Health study (23), Nurse Health study (24), Cardiovascular Health Study (25), and the pooled analysis of 10 American and European cohort studies (7).…”

Dietary Micronutrient Intakes Are Associated with Markers of Inflammation but Not with Markers of Subclinical Atherosclerosis,

“…However, the association was no longer significant after further adjustment for intake of cold cereal, which is in agreement with our observations. The attenuation of measures of association after adjustment for cold cereal or whole grains in general suggests that results were confounded by the generally favorable association of these foods on CVD and its risk factors (36,37). Overall, our findings are consistent with previous epidemiological studies evaluating the main food sources of Mg, nonheme iron, and other suspected antioxidant micronutrients.…”

Dietary Fibers and Cardiometabolic Diseases

“…Cereal fiber by itself had the least influence on CHD risk (RR 0.90; 95% CI, 0.80–1.01). A similar finding was made by Mozaffarian et al [ 60 ]. After adjustment for potential confounders, the overall reduction in CVD risk from consumption of cereal fiber was 14% (HR 0.86, 95% CI, 0.075–0.99) when the 20th percentile of intake (1.7 g/day) was compared with the highest quintile (46.3 g/day).…”