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Fiber Biggest Factor in Successful Aging (i.e. Healthspan)

fiber aging

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#1 JustGetMeIntoSpace

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Posted 09 June 2016 - 09:34 PM


I enjoy eating flexitarian and I think there is solid evidence that this is the best way to get a slight bump in lifespan and a solid bump in CVD health if you do it right imho.  My biggest reason has always been that our colon and intestine just simply does not resemble in the remotest sense of the word a carnivore yet our intestine is clearly very close to that of a herbivore.  All primates eat flexitarian and from all I have seen the longest lived cultures as well.  

 

Well, it turns out this may be due to fiber according to this study.  Check it out:

 

 

http://www.worldheal...ccessful-aging/

According to the lead author of the paper, Gopinath, this study is the first to explore the relationship between carbohydrate intake and healthy aging, and the findings were significant enough to warrant further exploration. “Out of all the variables that we looked at, fiber intake -- which is a type of carbohydrate that the body can't digest -- had the strongest influence," she stated. "Essentially, we found that those who had the highest intake of fiber or total fiber actually had an almost 80 percent greater likelihood of living a long and healthy life over a 10-year follow-up. That is, they were less likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dementia, depression, and functional disability.""

 





 
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#2 aconita

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Posted 10 June 2016 - 12:25 AM

The intestine is just one part of the digestive apparatus, when you look at the whole picture I doubt " very close to that of a herbivore" would be an appropriate definition.

 

What you exactly mean with "the longest lived cultures"?

 

Since humans don't posses the required enzymes and digestive structure in order to digest fibers overindulging comes with its deal of issues.

 

It is not the kind but the amount that makes the difference between the poison and the medicine.

 

 

 

 



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#3 shifter

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Posted 10 June 2016 - 01:02 AM

If humans are meant to be herbivores than why do we need vitamin B12 which can only be found from animal sources? Our bodies have more or less had the same design for many thousands of years and our cavemen ancestors or even your grandparents age, the people did not have access to technology to create synthetic B12 so how were they expected to survive? We are omnivorous.

 

You can only be a Vegan in this day and age because we can fortify foods with what would otherwise be missed completely. In the Caveman era, right up until 100 years ago or so someone decided to be a vegan, they would be very unhealthy, fatigued and then die prematurely. You can be a vegan or herbivore only because of modern technologies and our 1st world living standards. Not because that's how your body was designed. Nobody in the history of the human race was born designed as a vegan. Ever. 


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#4 Hebbeh

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Posted 10 June 2016 - 03:03 AM

Fiber is the only food that supports a healthy microbiome.  There has been numerous recent studies exploring the intimate symbiotic relationship between a healthy microbiome which supports numerous health benefits unattainable otherwise.  Your microbiome is heavily influenced by diet... what you feed your microbiome is what will flourish and grow.  Humans developed throughout millennia with this intimate gut microbiome relationship.  On the flip side of the coin, an unhealthy microbiome composed of a greater percentage of pathogens will tilt the axis to greater inflammatory and negative health markers.  I believe that is a part of the current SAD diet of low fiber junk, processed, and fast food leading to an unhealthy microbiome.  Research has shown that the average aged adult has a less diverse microbiome than what they were born with (from the intimate mother child sharing and passing of the mother's gut microbiome) due to a lifetime of antibiotic exposure compounded with poor dietary choices (low fiber).  I don't have the time to post links and references but a quick search will provided numerous recent studies and journal articles and there have been several threads discussing the topic.


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#5 sthira

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Posted 10 June 2016 - 03:19 AM

...Split peas, lentils, black beans, Lima beans, any beans, flaxseed (grind it), purple barley, oat bran, wheat bran, any bran, oatmeal, artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, raspberries, blackberries, all berries, spinach, chard, beet greens, any leafy greens, avocado, pears, walnuts, all nuts, chia seeds,,quinoa....

Basically a healthy mostly vegan all plant based diet, I eat and according to cronometer average around 110g fiber per day. This is very easy. A habit, that's all, tune out the noise from special interest groups (dairy, red meat, junk food...) and eat fruits,,vegetables, legumes, nuts... are we a broken record yet? Over and over and over with dietary advice that while it'll make you healthy, we'll only get an extra few years of longevity. Tech and only tech will substantially increase human longevity.

#6 dazed1

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Posted 12 June 2016 - 01:57 AM

Longevity is pretty much pointless, who would care to live to 90 if you cant walk, or even pee by yourself? what matter most is HOW you feel, and longevity is much less important compared. Ill take 70 years of feeling great, vs 90 of feeling just ok or bad - cant take care of myself.


Edited by dazed1, 12 June 2016 - 01:58 AM.

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#7 JustGetMeIntoSpace

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Posted 12 June 2016 - 04:07 PM

The intestine is just one part of the digestive apparatus, when you look at the whole picture I doubt " very close to that of a herbivore" would be an appropriate definition.

 

What you exactly mean with "the longest lived cultures"?

 

Since humans don't posses the required enzymes and digestive structure in order to digest fibers overindulging comes with its deal of issues.

 

It is not the kind but the amount that makes the difference between the poison and the medicine.

 

The four supercultures in John Robbin's Healthy at 100, several of the Blue Zones cultures, the Taramahara.  These supercultures all have an exceptional # of members over the age of 90 and 100 and they enjoy nearly perfect health (when it comes to chronic disease).

 

I'm not trying to start a flame war, by the way.  But these cultures are clearly the "gold standard" imo.  Perhaps we will find another hack that will surpass these on the dietary/nutritional front, but I doubt it myself.



#8 JustGetMeIntoSpace

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Posted 12 June 2016 - 04:12 PM

Guys,

 

I am going to retract this one, even though I really believe a flexitarain, high fiber diet is the optimal way to go personally.  But I actually pulled up the full study and looked at it (instead of sound bites), and as far as I can figure out, there is a 2 gram difference in fiber between the high and low groups!  Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like this study is nonsense:

 

http://biomedgeronto...ona.glw091.full

 

If anyone finds out something different, i.e. that there really was a significant difference in fiber between high and low groups, I'd love to hear about it.



#9 deanp

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Posted 13 June 2016 - 10:16 PM

JustGetMeIntoSpace,

 

I am going to retract this one, even though I really believe a flexitarain, high fiber diet is the optimal way to go personally.  But I actually pulled up the full study and looked at it (instead of sound bites), and as far as I can figure out, there is a 2 gram difference in fiber between the high and low groups!  Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like this study is nonsense:

http://biomedgeronto...ona.glw091.full

If anyone finds out something different, i.e. that there really was a significant difference in fiber between high and low groups, I'd love to hear about it.

 

Don't give up so easily!

 

You are right - the deltas in fiber intake between the "healthy aging" group, the "suboptimal aging" group, and the "folks who died" group in the study in question [1] was small. Here are the figures: "healthy agers" (29g/day of fiber), "suboptimal agers" (27.7g/day of fiber) and people who died (26.4g/day of fiber). Nevertheless the associations between fiber intake and likelihood of successful aging were highly statistically significant (P < 0.0002). In fact you don't see P-values that significant in many nutrition studies.

 

The same was true in [2], a study of diet vs. mortality in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) cohort. The researchers in [3] measured the baseline diet of BLSA participants over a 7-day period and then followed them for 18 years to see which of them died, and what they'd be eating. From the free full text, here is what they found:

 

Survivors had significantly greater intakes of [fruits and vegetables], dietary fiber, magnesium, and vitamin C, and lower intakes of saturated fat than those who died from CHD or other causes, and higher intake of folate than those who died from CHD.

 

Even more astonishing, they found that:

 

 In fully adjusted models ... dietary fiber [showed] a 6% reduction [in mortality risk] / g (P < 0.05).

 
In other words, each extra gram per day of fiber someone in the BLSA cohort ate during the 7-day baseline period was associated with a 6% lower likelihood of dying during the 18y follow-up period. Further, the beneficial fiber effect was largely associated with the kind of fiber we eat most around here - the fiber in fruits and veggies. Once again, the absolute amount of fiber these BLSA men were eating was small (long-lived = 21.8g fiber / day vs short-lived = 16.8g fiber / day). But again the correlation between fiber intake and reduced mortality was highly significant.
 
But perhaps the best evidence in favor of high fiber comes from the vegan Adventists studied in [3]. They eat twice as much fiber as all the folks in [1] and [2] (46g/day) and live the longest of all on average (men ~87 years). Even comparing within different Adventist subpopulations, there is a nice correlation between fiber intake and reduced mortality over a significant range of fiber consumption. Specifically, the vegan Adventists eat 50% more fiber than the omnivorous Adventists (46g vs. 30g), and had a 15% reduced mortality rate over about 6 years of follow-up in [3].
 
So while many of us whole-food, plant-based folks (and doubless the flexitarians as well) eat a lot more fiber than even the vegan Adventists, it looks like on whole fiber does appear to have strong health and longevity boosting effects.
 
BTW - for a more detailed and nuanced discussion of the benefits vs. the potential downsides of a high fiber diet, see this on-going thread on the CR Society forums, titled Dietary Fiber - Health Promoter or Anti-CR Hunger-Suppressor?
 
--Dean
 

----------

[1] J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016 Jun 1. pii: glw091. [Epub ahead of print]

 
Association Between Carbohydrate Nutrition and Successful Aging Over 10 Years.
 
Gopinath B(1), Flood VM(2), Kifley A(3), Louie JC(4), Mitchell P(3).
 
 
BACKGROUND: We prospectively examined the relationship between dietary glycemic
index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), carbohydrate, sugars, and fiber intake
(including fruits, vegetable of breads/cereals fiber) with successful aging
(determined through a multidomain approach).
 
METHODS: A total of 1,609 adults aged 49 years and older who were free of cancer,
coronary artery disease, and stroke at baseline were followed for 10 years.
Dietary data were collected using a semiquantitative Food Frequency
Questionnaire. Successful aging status was determined through
interviewer-administered questionnaire at each visit and was defined as the
absence of disability, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, respiratory
symptoms, and chronic diseases (eg, cancer and coronary artery disease).
RESULTS: In all, 249 (15.5%) participants had aged successfully 10 years later.
Dietary GI, GL, and carbohydrate intake were not significantly associated with
successful aging. However, participants in the highest versus lowest (reference
group) quartile of total fiber intake had greater odds of aging successfully than
suboptimal aging, multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.79 (95% confidence
interval [CI] 1.13-2.84). Those who remained consistently below the median in
consumption of fiber from breads/cereal and fruit compared with the rest of
cohort were less likely to age successfully, OR 0.53 (95% CI 0.34-0.84) and OR
0.64 (95% CI 0.44-0.95), respectively.
 
CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of dietary fiber from breads/cereals and fruits
independently influenced the likelihood of aging successfully over 10 years.
These findings suggest that increasing intake of fiber-rich foods could be a
successful strategy in reaching old age disease free and fully functional.
 
PMID: 27252308
 
-----------
[2] J Nutr. 2005 Mar;135(3):556-61.
 
The combination of high fruit and vegetable and low saturated fat intakes is more
protective against mortality in aging men than is either alone: the Baltimore
Longitudinal Study of Aging.
 
Tucker KL(1), Hallfrisch J, Qiao N, Muller D, Andres R, Fleg JL; Baltimore
Longitudinal Study of Aging.
 
Author information: 
(1)Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University,
Boston, MA, USA. katharine.tucker@tufts.edu
 
 
Saturated fat (SF) intake contributes to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD)
mortality. Recently, the protective effects of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake on
both CHD and all-cause mortality were documented. However, individuals consuming 
more FV may be displacing higher-fat foods. Therefore, we investigated the
individual and combined effects of FV and SF consumption on total and CHD
mortality among 501 initially healthy men in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of 
Aging (BLSA). Over a mean 18 y of follow-up, 7-d diet records were taken at 1-7
visits. Cause of death was ascertained from death certificates, hospital records,
and autopsy data. After adjustment for age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking,
alcohol use, dietary supplements, and physical activity score, FV and SF intakes 
were individually associated with lower all-cause and CHD mortality (P < 0.05).
When both FV and SF were included in the same model, associations of each were
attenuated with CHD mortality, and no longer significant for all-cause mortality.
Men consuming the combination of > or =5 servings of FV/d and < or =12% energy
from SF were 31% less likely to die of any cause (P < 0.05), and 76% less likely 
to die from CHD (P < 0.001), relative to those consuming < 5 FV and >12% SF. Men 
consuming either low SF or high FV, but not both, did not have a significantly
lower risk of total mortality; but did have 64-67% lower risk of CHD mortality (P
< 0.05) relative to those doing neither. These results confirm the protective
effects of low SF and high FV intake against CHD mortality. In addition, they
extend these findings by demonstrating that the combination of both behaviors is 
more protective than either alone, suggesting that their beneficial effects are
mediated by different mechanisms.
 
PMID: 15735093
 
----------
[3] JAMA Intern Med.. 2013 Jul 8;173(13):1230-8.. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6473.
Vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality in Adventist Health Study 2.
 
Orlich MJ(1), Singh PN, Sabaté J, Jaceldo-Siegl K, Fan J, Knutsen S, Beeson WL,
Fraser GE.
 
Author information:
(1)School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA.
morlich@llu.edu
 
Comment in
JAMA Intern Med.. 2014 Jan;174(1):168-9.
JAMA Intern Med.. 2014 Jan;174(1):169.
JAMA Intern Med.. 2013 Jul 8;173(13):1238-9.
Dtsch Med Wochenschr.. 2013 Sep;138(39):1930.
 
IMPORTANCE: Some evidence suggests vegetarian dietary patterns may be associated
with reduced mortality, but the relationship is not well established.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between vegetarian dietary patterns and
mortality.
DESIGN: Prospective cohort study; mortality analysis by Cox proportional hazards
regression, controlling for important demographic and lifestyle confounders.
SETTING: Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2), a large North American cohort.
PARTICIPANTS: A total of 96,469 Seventh-day Adventist men and women recruited
between 2002 and 2007, from which an analytic sample of 73,308 participants
remained after exclusions.
EXPOSURES: Diet was assessed at baseline by a quantitative food frequency
questionnaire and categorized into 5 dietary patterns: nonvegetarian,
semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and vegan.
MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: The relationship between vegetarian dietary patterns
and all-cause and cause-specific mortality; deaths through 2009 were identified
from the National Death Index.
RESULTS: There were 2570 deaths among 73,308 participants during a mean follow-up
time of 5.79 years.. The mortality rate was 6.05 (95% CI, 5.82-6.29) deaths per
1000 person-years.. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in all
vegetarians combined vs nonvegetarians was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80-0.97).. The adjusted
HR for all-cause mortality in vegans was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.73-1.01); in
lacto-ovo-vegetarians, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.82-1.00); in pesco-vegetarians, 0.81 (95%
CI, 0.69-0.94); and in semi-vegetarians, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.75-1.13) compared with
nonvegetarians.. Significant associations with vegetarian diets were detected for
cardiovascular mortality, noncardiovascular noncancer mortality, renal mortality,
and endocrine mortality.. Associations in men were larger and more often
significant than were those in women.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Vegetarian diets are associated with lower all-cause
mortality and with some reductions in cause-specific mortality.. Results appeared
to be more robust in males.. These favorable associations should be considered
carefully by those offering dietary guidance.
 
PMCID: PMC4191896
PMID: 23836264
 
 

Edited by deanp, 13 June 2016 - 10:17 PM.

  • Informative x 2

#10 sthira

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Posted 14 June 2016 - 01:04 AM

Welcome to Longecity, Dean! Great to see you posting here. I think you'll find this larger audience fun and funny.

Now go eat more fiber, everyone! It's good for the bowels.

#11 aconita

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Posted 14 June 2016 - 02:02 AM

Not so fast, fibers binds micronutrients and gives the runs if excessive, leave alone gas and discomfort.

 

It is not a matter of proving that fibers are healthy, of course they are!

 

The point is fibers, like anything else, are good in the appropriate amount, more and less are equally unhealthy.

 

By the way those studies make me laugh...

 

Do you really think it is the 3.5% difference in fiber intake that yields those results? 

 

This other study tells that eating fruits and veggies is healthier than not eating them, really?

 

We all really needed a study to state that!

 

They must be joking........

 

Anyway in a country like US where most population doesn't eat fruits and veggies but mainly junk food the approach might be justified.  

 



#12 JustGetMeIntoSpace

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Posted 14 June 2016 - 02:46 AM

 

JustGetMeIntoSpace,

 

I am going to retract this one, even though I really believe a flexitarain, high fiber diet is the optimal way to go personally.  But I actually pulled up the full study and looked at it (instead of sound bites), and as far as I can figure out, there is a 2 gram difference in fiber between the high and low groups!  Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like this study is nonsense:

http://biomedgeronto...ona.glw091.full

If anyone finds out something different, i.e. that there really was a significant difference in fiber between high and low groups, I'd love to hear about it.

 

Don't give up so easily!

 

You are right - the deltas in fiber intake between the "healthy aging" group, the "suboptimal aging" group, and the "folks who died" group in the study in question [1] was small. Here are the figures: "healthy agers" (29g/day of fiber), "suboptimal agers" (27.7g/day of fiber) and people who died (26.4g/day of fiber). Nevertheless the associations between fiber intake and likelihood of successful aging were highly statistically significant (P < 0.0002). In fact you don't see P-values that significant in many nutrition studies.

 

The same was true in [2], a study of diet vs. mortality in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) cohort. The researchers in [3] measured the baseline diet of BLSA participants over a 7-day period and then followed them for 18 years to see which of them died, and what they'd be eating. From the free full text, here is what they found:

 

Survivors had significantly greater intakes of [fruits and vegetables], dietary fiber, magnesium, and vitamin C, and lower intakes of saturated fat than those who died from CHD or other causes, and higher intake of folate than those who died from CHD.

 

Even more astonishing, they found that:

 

 In fully adjusted models ... dietary fiber [showed] a 6% reduction [in mortality risk] / g (P < 0.05).

 
In other words, each extra gram per day of fiber someone in the BLSA cohort ate during the 7-day baseline period was associated with a 6% lower likelihood of dying during the 18y follow-up period. Further, the beneficial fiber effect was largely associated with the kind of fiber we eat most around here - the fiber in fruits and veggies. Once again, the absolute amount of fiber these BLSA men were eating was small (long-lived = 21.8g fiber / day vs short-lived = 16.8g fiber / day). But again the correlation between fiber intake and reduced mortality was highly significant.
 
But perhaps the best evidence in favor of high fiber comes from the vegan Adventists studied in [3]. They eat twice as much fiber as all the folks in [1] and [2] (46g/day) and live the longest of all on average (men ~87 years). Even comparing within different Adventist subpopulations, there is a nice correlation between fiber intake and reduced mortality over a significant range of fiber consumption. Specifically, the vegan Adventists eat 50% more fiber than the omnivorous Adventists (46g vs. 30g), and had a 15% reduced mortality rate over about 6 years of follow-up in [3].
 
So while many of us whole-food, plant-based folks (and doubless the flexitarians as well) eat a lot more fiber than even the vegan Adventists, it looks like on whole fiber does appear to have strong health and longevity boosting effects.
 
BTW - for a more detailed and nuanced discussion of the benefits vs. the potential downsides of a high fiber diet, see this on-going thread on the CR Society forums, titled Dietary Fiber - Health Promoter or Anti-CR Hunger-Suppressor?
 
--Dean
 

----------

[1] J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016 Jun 1. pii: glw091. [Epub ahead of print]

 
Association Between Carbohydrate Nutrition and Successful Aging Over 10 Years.
 
Gopinath B(1), Flood VM(2), Kifley A(3), Louie JC(4), Mitchell P(3).
 
 
BACKGROUND: We prospectively examined the relationship between dietary glycemic
index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), carbohydrate, sugars, and fiber intake
(including fruits, vegetable of breads/cereals fiber) with successful aging
(determined through a multidomain approach).
 
METHODS: A total of 1,609 adults aged 49 years and older who were free of cancer,
coronary artery disease, and stroke at baseline were followed for 10 years.
Dietary data were collected using a semiquantitative Food Frequency
Questionnaire. Successful aging status was determined through
interviewer-administered questionnaire at each visit and was defined as the
absence of disability, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, respiratory
symptoms, and chronic diseases (eg, cancer and coronary artery disease).
RESULTS: In all, 249 (15.5%) participants had aged successfully 10 years later.
Dietary GI, GL, and carbohydrate intake were not significantly associated with
successful aging. However, participants in the highest versus lowest (reference
group) quartile of total fiber intake had greater odds of aging successfully than
suboptimal aging, multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.79 (95% confidence
interval [CI] 1.13-2.84). Those who remained consistently below the median in
consumption of fiber from breads/cereal and fruit compared with the rest of
cohort were less likely to age successfully, OR 0.53 (95% CI 0.34-0.84) and OR
0.64 (95% CI 0.44-0.95), respectively.
 
CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of dietary fiber from breads/cereals and fruits
independently influenced the likelihood of aging successfully over 10 years.
These findings suggest that increasing intake of fiber-rich foods could be a
successful strategy in reaching old age disease free and fully functional.
 
PMID: 27252308
 
-----------
[2] J Nutr. 2005 Mar;135(3):556-61.
 
The combination of high fruit and vegetable and low saturated fat intakes is more
protective against mortality in aging men than is either alone: the Baltimore
Longitudinal Study of Aging.
 
Tucker KL(1), Hallfrisch J, Qiao N, Muller D, Andres R, Fleg JL; Baltimore
Longitudinal Study of Aging.
 
Author information: 
(1)Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University,
Boston, MA, USA. katharine.tucker@tufts.edu
 
 
Saturated fat (SF) intake contributes to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD)
mortality. Recently, the protective effects of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake on
both CHD and all-cause mortality were documented. However, individuals consuming 
more FV may be displacing higher-fat foods. Therefore, we investigated the
individual and combined effects of FV and SF consumption on total and CHD
mortality among 501 initially healthy men in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of 
Aging (BLSA). Over a mean 18 y of follow-up, 7-d diet records were taken at 1-7
visits. Cause of death was ascertained from death certificates, hospital records,
and autopsy data. After adjustment for age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking,
alcohol use, dietary supplements, and physical activity score, FV and SF intakes 
were individually associated with lower all-cause and CHD mortality (P < 0.05).
When both FV and SF were included in the same model, associations of each were
attenuated with CHD mortality, and no longer significant for all-cause mortality.
Men consuming the combination of > or =5 servings of FV/d and < or =12% energy
from SF were 31% less likely to die of any cause (P < 0.05), and 76% less likely 
to die from CHD (P < 0.001), relative to those consuming < 5 FV and >12% SF. Men 
consuming either low SF or high FV, but not both, did not have a significantly
lower risk of total mortality; but did have 64-67% lower risk of CHD mortality (P
< 0.05) relative to those doing neither. These results confirm the protective
effects of low SF and high FV intake against CHD mortality. In addition, they
extend these findings by demonstrating that the combination of both behaviors is 
more protective than either alone, suggesting that their beneficial effects are
mediated by different mechanisms.
 
PMID: 15735093
 
----------
[3] JAMA Intern Med.. 2013 Jul 8;173(13):1230-8.. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6473.
Vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality in Adventist Health Study 2.
 
Orlich MJ(1), Singh PN, Sabaté J, Jaceldo-Siegl K, Fan J, Knutsen S, Beeson WL,
Fraser GE.
 
Author information:
(1)School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA.
morlich@llu.edu
 
Comment in
JAMA Intern Med.. 2014 Jan;174(1):168-9.
JAMA Intern Med.. 2014 Jan;174(1):169.
JAMA Intern Med.. 2013 Jul 8;173(13):1238-9.
Dtsch Med Wochenschr.. 2013 Sep;138(39):1930.
 
IMPORTANCE: Some evidence suggests vegetarian dietary patterns may be associated
with reduced mortality, but the relationship is not well established.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between vegetarian dietary patterns and
mortality.
DESIGN: Prospective cohort study; mortality analysis by Cox proportional hazards
regression, controlling for important demographic and lifestyle confounders.
SETTING: Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2), a large North American cohort.
PARTICIPANTS: A total of 96,469 Seventh-day Adventist men and women recruited
between 2002 and 2007, from which an analytic sample of 73,308 participants
remained after exclusions.
EXPOSURES: Diet was assessed at baseline by a quantitative food frequency
questionnaire and categorized into 5 dietary patterns: nonvegetarian,
semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and vegan.
MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: The relationship between vegetarian dietary patterns
and all-cause and cause-specific mortality; deaths through 2009 were identified
from the National Death Index.
RESULTS: There were 2570 deaths among 73,308 participants during a mean follow-up
time of 5.79 years.. The mortality rate was 6.05 (95% CI, 5.82-6.29) deaths per
1000 person-years.. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in all
vegetarians combined vs nonvegetarians was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80-0.97).. The adjusted
HR for all-cause mortality in vegans was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.73-1.01); in
lacto-ovo-vegetarians, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.82-1.00); in pesco-vegetarians, 0.81 (95%
CI, 0.69-0.94); and in semi-vegetarians, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.75-1.13) compared with
nonvegetarians.. Significant associations with vegetarian diets were detected for
cardiovascular mortality, noncardiovascular noncancer mortality, renal mortality,
and endocrine mortality.. Associations in men were larger and more often
significant than were those in women.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Vegetarian diets are associated with lower all-cause
mortality and with some reductions in cause-specific mortality.. Results appeared
to be more robust in males.. These favorable associations should be considered
carefully by those offering dietary guidance.
 
PMCID: PMC4191896
PMID: 23836264

 

Just saw this.

 

Hey, thx for the great post.  Again, I absolutely believe that fiber is astronomically important.  But I guess what I'm saying is that the range for fiber consumption probably ranges from 15 grams to 45gram for 98% of the people out there.  So the idea that in the lower middle part of that range there is almost step-wise change in probably seems really unlikely.  

 

I guess, though, that perhaps the issue is that you get virtually all the benefits of fiber in the first 30-35 grams.  After that, there is little additional effect.  I guess that makes sense possibly.



#13 sthira

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Posted 14 June 2016 - 12:25 PM

Not so fast, fibers binds micronutrients and gives the runs if excessive, leave alone gas and discomfort.

It is not a matter of proving that fibers are healthy, of course they are!

The point is fibers, like anything else, are good in the appropriate amount, more and less are equally unhealthy.


Aren't whole plant foods simultaneously binders and releasers of micronutrients? And isn't every bite we eat far more complicated than that? Thus "the runs" (diarrhea) is a short term annoyance during transition from a poor to better diet (processed to unprocessed). Gas passes, haha, but isn't gas a gut bacteria shift we want?

This other study tells that eating fruits and veggies is healthier than not eating them, really?

We all really needed a study to state that!

They must be joking........

Anyway in a country like US where most population doesn't eat fruits and veggies but mainly junk food the approach might be justified.


Agreed. There's plenty of evidence showing the best ways to eat; more studies aren't very helpful. Move along: even the perfect diet from birth to death over a lifetime is probably not going to extend lifespan for most people. For life extension, we need (as yet undeveloped) technological advances beyond diet.

#14 deanp

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Posted 15 June 2016 - 04:41 PM

Sthira,

 

I agree with you in general when you say:

 

There's plenty of evidence showing the best ways to eat; more studies aren't very helpful.

 

But there is (at least) one diet-related factor that doesn't seem to have been thoroughly investigated - namely the effects of a really high fiber diet like many of us plant-based folks eat (i.e.100+ g of fiber per day). The studies I cited above don't go there - even the vegan Adventists only eat ~46g of fiber per day. There are a couple studies though. One of which I talked about here. I called it the "Near Perfect Diet" study [1] and it was a randomized crossover protocol. One arm of the protocol was vegan, and included nearly 140g of fiber per day. Here are some other characteristics of the vegan diet used in this study:

 

  • This very high intake of fruit and vegetables translated into 63 servings per day for a 2,500 kcal diet (Table 1)
  • It was 18% protein (entirely from plant sources), 22% fat (half from MUFA), and 60% carbs
  • It contained almost 140g of fiber per day
  • The total weight of food was 5.1 kg / day (~11 lbs)
  • The fecal weight during the vegetable diet was over 900g/day (~2lbs)

This high fiber vegan diet was dramatically more beneficial for CVD risk factors than the other two diets tested, which actually contained a respectable, but much lower amount of fiber (25g and 47g). Dr. Greger recently highlighted this study as well in this video.

 

Today's Dr. Greger video relates to fiber too. He suggests that rural Africans may have 50x less colon cancer because they eat a diet with more than 5x as much fiber as a typical Western Diet (60-120g vs. 15g). 

 

Of course some of us wonder if the satiating effects of a high fiber diet might counteract the benefit of calorie restriction, based on the so-called "Hunger Hypothesis" (HH) which says hunger is necessary for CR to work its magic. The HH is controversial, and I don't personally subscribe to it. But we've got a healthy discussion of it going on at the moment on the CR Forums. But we all agree (over there) that the benefits of fiber vs. the (possible) benefits of hunger on the life extension effects of CR is definitely a topic that warrants further study.

 

--Dean

 

----------

[1] Metabolism. 2001 Apr;50(4):494-503.

 
Effect of a very-high-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids and
colonic function.
 
Jenkins DJ(1), Kendall CW, Popovich DG, Vidgen E, Mehling CC, Vuksan V, Ransom
TP, Rao AV, Rosenberg-Zand R, Tariq N, Corey P, Jones PJ, Raeini M, Story JA,
Furumoto EJ, Illingworth DR, Pappu AS, Connelly PW.
 
 
We tested the effects of feeding a diet very high in fiber from fruit and
vegetables. The levels fed were those, which had originally inspired the dietary 
fiber hypothesis related to colon cancer and heart disease prevention and also
may have been eaten early in human evolution. Ten healthy volunteers each took 3 
metabolic diets of 2 weeks duration. The diets were: high-vegetable, fruit, and
nut (very-high-fiber, 55 g/1,000 kcal); starch-based containing cereals and
legumes (early agricultural diet); or low-fat (contemporary therapeutic diet).
All diets were intended to be weight-maintaining (mean intake, 2,577 kcal/d).
Compared with the starch-based and low-fat diets, the high-fiber vegetable diet
resulted in the largest reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
(33% +/- 4%, P <.001) and the greatest fecal bile acid output (1.13 +/- 0.30 g/d,
P =.002), fecal bulk (906 +/- 130 g/d, P <.001), and fecal short-chain fatty acid
outputs (78 +/- 13 mmol/d, P <.001). Nevertheless, due to the increase in fecal
bulk, the actual concentrations of fecal bile acids were lowest on the vegetable 
diet (1.2 mg/g wet weight, P =.002). Maximum lipid reductions occurred within 1
week. Urinary mevalonic acid excretion increased (P =.036) on the high-vegetable 
diet reflecting large fecal steroid losses. We conclude that very high-vegetable 
fiber intakes reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon
cancer. Vegetable and fruit fibers therefore warrant further detailed
investigation.
 

PMID: 11288049


Edited by deanp, 15 June 2016 - 04:44 PM.

  • Informative x 1

#15 JustGetMeIntoSpace

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Posted 15 June 2016 - 05:30 PM

Sthira,

 

I agree with you in general when you say:

 

There's plenty of evidence showing the best ways to eat; more studies aren't very helpful.

 

But there is (at least) one diet-related factor that doesn't seem to have been thoroughly investigated - namely the effects of a really high fiber diet like many of us plant-based folks eat (i.e.100+ g of fiber per day). The studies I cited above don't go there - even the vegan Adventists only eat ~46g of fiber per day. There are a couple studies though. One of which I talked about here. I called it the "Near Perfect Diet" study [1] and it was a randomized crossover protocol. One arm of the protocol was vegan, and included nearly 140g of fiber per day. Here are some other characteristics of the vegan diet used in this study:

 

  • This very high intake of fruit and vegetables translated into 63 servings per day for a 2,500 kcal diet (Table 1)
  • It was 18% protein (entirely from plant sources), 22% fat (half from MUFA), and 60% carbs
  • It contained almost 140g of fiber per day
  • The total weight of food was 5.1 kg / day (~11 lbs)
  • The fecal weight during the vegetable diet was over 900g/day (~2lbs)

This high fiber vegan diet was dramatically more beneficial for CVD risk factors than the other two diets tested, which actually contained a respectable, but much lower amount of fiber (25g and 47g). Dr. Greger recently highlighted this study as well in this video.

 

Today's Dr. Greger video relates to fiber too. He suggests that rural Africans may have 50x less colon cancer because they eat a diet with more than 5x as much fiber as a typical Western Diet (60-120g vs. 15g). 

 

Of course some of us wonder if the satiating effects of a high fiber diet might counteract the benefit of calorie restriction, based on the so-called "Hunger Hypothesis" (HH) which says hunger is necessary for CR to work its magic. The HH is controversial, and I don't personally subscribe to it. But we've got a healthy discussion of it going on at the moment on the CR Forums. But we all agree (over there) that the benefits of fiber vs. the (possible) benefits of hunger on the life extension effects of CR is definitely a topic that warrants further study.

 

--Dean

 

----------

[1] Metabolism. 2001 Apr;50(4):494-503.

 
Effect of a very-high-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids and
colonic function.
 
Jenkins DJ(1), Kendall CW, Popovich DG, Vidgen E, Mehling CC, Vuksan V, Ransom
TP, Rao AV, Rosenberg-Zand R, Tariq N, Corey P, Jones PJ, Raeini M, Story JA,
Furumoto EJ, Illingworth DR, Pappu AS, Connelly PW.
 
 
We tested the effects of feeding a diet very high in fiber from fruit and
vegetables. The levels fed were those, which had originally inspired the dietary 
fiber hypothesis related to colon cancer and heart disease prevention and also
may have been eaten early in human evolution. Ten healthy volunteers each took 3 
metabolic diets of 2 weeks duration. The diets were: high-vegetable, fruit, and
nut (very-high-fiber, 55 g/1,000 kcal); starch-based containing cereals and
legumes (early agricultural diet); or low-fat (contemporary therapeutic diet).
All diets were intended to be weight-maintaining (mean intake, 2,577 kcal/d).
Compared with the starch-based and low-fat diets, the high-fiber vegetable diet
resulted in the largest reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
(33% +/- 4%, P <.001) and the greatest fecal bile acid output (1.13 +/- 0.30 g/d,
P =.002), fecal bulk (906 +/- 130 g/d, P <.001), and fecal short-chain fatty acid
outputs (78 +/- 13 mmol/d, P <.001). Nevertheless, due to the increase in fecal
bulk, the actual concentrations of fecal bile acids were lowest on the vegetable 
diet (1.2 mg/g wet weight, P =.002). Maximum lipid reductions occurred within 1
week. Urinary mevalonic acid excretion increased (P =.036) on the high-vegetable 
diet reflecting large fecal steroid losses. We conclude that very high-vegetable 
fiber intakes reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon
cancer. Vegetable and fruit fibers therefore warrant further detailed
investigation.
 

PMID: 11288049

Wow.  Thx for this study.  I have my fiber / day calculated as I eat quite consistently and it was something like 70 grams per day.  it wasn't really a conscious decision on my part, but it's how I enjoy eating and feel good.  But I though maybe I was overdoing it.  Gotta read the details!







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