Dietary fiber intake in relation to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality over 40 y: the Zutphen Study.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about the effects of dietary fiber intake on long-term mortality.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed to study recent and long-term dietary fiber intake in relation to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality.


METHODS
The effects of recent and long-term dietary fiber intakes on mortality were investigated in the Zutphen Study, a cohort of 1,373 men born between 1900 and 1920 and examined repeatedly between 1960 and 2000. During that period, 1,130 men died, 348 as a result of coronary heart disease. Hazard ratios were obtained from time-dependent Cox regression models.


RESULTS
Every additional 10 g of recent dietary fiber intake per day reduced coronary heart disease mortality by 17% (95% CI: 2%, 30%) and all-cause mortality by 9% (0%, 18%). The strength of the association between long-term dietary fiber intake and all-cause mortality decreased from age 50 y (hazard ratio: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.93) until age 80 y (0.99; 0.87, 1.12). We observed no clear associations for different types of dietary fiber.


CONCLUSIONS
A higher recent dietary fiber intake was associated with a lower risk of both coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. For long-term intake, the strength of the association between dietary fiber and all-cause mortality decreased with increasing age.
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, and the Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands. martinette.streppel@wur.nl
Martinette T
MT
Streppel
Marga C
MC
Ocké
Hendriek C
HC
Boshuizen
Frans J
FJ
Kok
Daan
D
Kromhout
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors