Soluble Fiber Intake

Soluble Fiber Intake and Reduction of Cardiovascular Disease Risk

The topic of this paper is to review what some of the current research on soluble fiber says about reducing CVD risk. Cardiovascular disease is defined as any heart or blood vessel condition caused by atherosclerosis. This topic is extremely important, especially in the United States. According to CDC’s data for leading causes of death; number one is heart disease at 611,105 deaths in 2013 followed by cancer (all forms) at 584,881 deaths. Cardiovascular disease kills more people than all forms of cancer combined! This is important because CVD can be more preventable than cancer. This paper aims to promote a higher intake of soluble fiber to help to both prevent and treat CVD.

Some of these risk factors include: blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, ApoB, a component of LDL particles, ApoA-1, a component of HDL particles, and probably the most important risk factor; total blood cholesterol. Soluble fiber is known to reduce blood cholesterol by increasing bile excretion. This diverts cholesterol to the synthesis of new bile. Also soluble fiber is metabolized by gut bacteria which produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These SCFAs inhibit de novo synthesis of cholesterol in the liver. This shows mechanistically that soluble fiber can reduce CVD risk considering total blood cholesterol is one of the most important risk factors for CVD. The following studies show correlational effects

Michael’s Hospital in Toronto Canada looks at a recommendation for soluble fiber intake made by the FDA which states: “Assuming a healthy diet, 4 servings/day of two types of soluble fiber, psyllium and beta-glucan at 1.78g/serving and 0.75g/serving respectively can reduce CVD risk. This group of researchers evaluated the effects of these soluble fiber intakes on the following serum CVD risk factors: total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, ApoB, and ApoA-1. The participants of the study were 37 men and 31 post-menopausal women with a mean age of 60 years and a mean BMI of 25.6 kg/m2. These individuals were already at risk of or had CVD. Their LDL and triglycerides were significantly high at the beginning of the study. This was a randomized, double-blind crossover study. These individuals were divided randomly into two groups. One group was the control and the other was the high fiber group. The control group received four servings per day of commercial breads, cereals, pasta-based frozen meals, chips, cookies, and smoothies while the high fiber group received the same diet with added fiber for four weeks followed by a two week washout period to eliminate any inconsistencies from the crossover design. Both diets were isocaloric. The diets also followed the guidelines of what the FDA considers a healthy diet for someone at risk of CVD which is less than 30