Fiber Found to Help Heart Health by Helping Lower Inflammation

by | Dec 16, 2010 | 2010, Cardiovascular Health, Fiber, Stroke

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Increasing fiber intake helped lower a marker of inflammation by 35%. 

Heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death for men and women, respectively, cause more than one-third (34.3%) of all U.S. deaths. They are two of the leading causes of disability in the United States, disabling nearly 3 million people. The total cost of cardiovascular diseases in the United States, from health care expenditures to lost productivity and deaths and disability, is expected to exceed $503 billion in 2010 (1).

Long-standing inflammation (2) plays “a major role” in the development of athersclerosis (3) as well as the progression of atherosclerotic plaques (4). As a result, dealing with inflammation is now a prime target in helping maintain heart health. Now a new study (5) has found that fiber may help maintain heart health by helping maintain healthy levels of an inflammatory protein called high-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein which is used to assess and help predict cardiovascular risk (6).

In the study, researchers reviewed 6 studies published between 2003 and 2008 examining fiber’s role in inflammation and heart disease. Patients ranged from 18 to 75 years of age and fiber intake ranged from 5.1 to 32 grams/day. When examining total fiber intake and inflammation, a 2003 study (7) showed that increasing fiber intake from 16 to 25 grams per day helped lower hs-CRP levels by 35% (3.2 to 2.1 mg/L). These same researchers conducted a study in 2004 (8) that found increasing fiber intake from 14 to 32 grams per day lowered hs-CRP levels by 39% (2.8 to 1.7 mg/L).

When looking at specific types of fiber, a 2006 study (8) found that compared to those with the lowest soluble fiber intake (3.8 grams/day), those with the highest soluble fiber intake per day (7.8 g/d) had a 61% higher levels of hs-CRP ( greater than 3 mg/L). For insoluble fiber, they found those with the highest intake of insoluble fiber (14.39 g/d) to have a 75% reduced risk of having hs-CRP levels greater than 3 mg/L compared to those with the lowest insoluble fiber intake (6.37 g/d).

For the researchers, “Fiber in the diet may play a strong role in cardiovascular health” and that “Patients need to be educated to adhere to a high fiber diet, either by dietary or supplemental means, using the recommended 25–30 grams of fiber per day.”

Source: Butcher, Jennifer L., and Renea L. Beckstrand. “Fiber’s impact on high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein levels in cardiovascular disease.” Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 22.11 (2010): 566-572.

© 1999 – 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Posted December 16, 2010.

References:

  1. “Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention” – see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
  2. Kovanen, P. T. (2007). Mast cells: Multipotent local effector cells in atherothrombosis. Immunological Reviews, 217, 105–122.
  3. Libby, P., & Theroux, P. (2005). Pathophysology of coronary artery disease. Circulation, 111, 3481–3488.
  4. Kleinschmidt, K. C. (2006). Epidemiology and pathophysiology of acute coronary syndrome. John Hopkins Advanced Studies in Nursing, 4, 72–77.
  5. Butcher JL. Fiber’s impact on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in cardiovascular disease. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 22 (2010) 566–572
  6. Libby P. Inflammation in atherosclerosis. Nature 2002; 420, 868–874.