High-fibre diet can help fight against diabetes and heart disease

Tue, 03 Aug 2010
Researchers have found that every incremental serving per day in whole grain intake is associated with a 10 per cent lower risk of developing diabetes . A scientific panel at the 2010 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting and Food Expo presented evidence from several studies that showed how a diet that is high in fibre can provide useful protection against type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease .

It was argued that a diet rich in whole grain food, especially cereal fibre, is beneficial for diabetics, and that incremental increases in whole grain intake can help lower the risk of developing diabetes .

With whole grain defined as foods made from the entire grain seed, or the kernel, consisting of the bran, germ and endosperm, whole-grain fibre can offer many metabolic and digestive benefits, such as increased insulin sensitivity, satiety, reduced inflammation, binding bile acids and increasing excretion of cholesterol .

Britt Burton Freeman, assistant professor of nutrition at the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of California, Davis, said that there was evidence that consuming one meal rich in fibre can extend health benefits into the next meal, and maybe beyond that. She revealed that soluble viscous fibres, such as psyllium, guar gum, pectin and beta-glucan, are the most effective at bringing down post-meal glucose, which is an increasing concern for people with diabetes .

She said "People probably aren’t going to have perfect meals, so what happens in the morning could have benefits throughout the entire day."

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