Higher fibre linked to improved blood sugar control and survival in diabetes
Researchers have found that a high fibre diet improves blood sugar control and survival in diabetes. The findings have been published in the journal Plos Medicine.
Higher intake of dietary fibre is beneficial and is associated with a reduction in premature mortality and incidence of a wide range of noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors in the population at large. It is also promoted as part of a healthy dietary pattern and in diabetes management.The researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses to evaluate the role of high-fibre diets on mortality and increasing fibre intake on cardiometabolic risk factors of adults with prediabetes or diabetes.
They examined prospective cohort studies of dietary fibre intake and mortality as well as controlled trials, which considered the effects of increasing fibre intakes on glycaemic control and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Meta-analyses were undertaken to determine the effects of higher fibre intake on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and increasing fibre intake on glycaemic control and a range of cardiometabolic risk factors. For trials, meta-regression analyses identified further variables that influenced the pooled findings. In addition, dose-response relationships between dietary fibre and these outcomes were explored to determine a more reliable estimate for recommended intakes.
The researchers found that participants in prospective cohort studies consuming higher intakes of dietary fibre had a reduced risk of premature mortality when compared with those with lower fibre intakes. They also found that the results from controlled trials were complementary, with increasing intake of fibre improving glycaemic control and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as cholesterol levels and body weight.
It was concluded that higher-fibre diets are an important component of diabetes management, resulting in improvements in measures of glycaemic control, blood lipids, body weight, and inflammation, as well as a reduction in premature mortality. These benefits were not confined to any fibre type or to any type of diabetes and were apparent across the range of intakes, although greater improvements in glycaemic control were observed for those moving from low to moderate or high intakes. It was suggested that based on these findings, increasing daily fibre intake by 15 g or to 35 g might be a reasonable target that would be expected to reduce risk of premature mortality in adults with diabetes. One practical way to increase fibre intakes may be to replace refined grain products with whole-grain foods.
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