By David LiU, PHD

Sunday July 14, 2012 (foodconsumer.or) -- A new European study published in the May 23, 2012 issue of European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating dietary fiber regardless of its source may help significantly reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD).

It has been actually known for a long time that dietary fiber intake is associated with reduced risk for ischemic heart disease, but the current study also found the source of dietary fiber does not make any significant difference in the risk reduction.

N. Wareham of University of Oxford and colleagues analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Heart study, which involved 306,331 men and women from eight European countries.  During a 11.5-year follow-up, 2381 deaths from ischemic heart disease were identified.

Intake of dietary fiber was found inversely correlated with ischemic heart disease mortality. Specifically, each 10 grams per day of dietary fiber was linked to a 15 percent reduced risk.

Additionally the individual food sources of dietary fiber were found associated with a reduction in the risk of ischemic heart disease by a similar magnitude.  Specifically, each 5 grams per day higher cereal fiber intake was associated with a 9 percent reduction; 2.5 grams per day of fruit fiber was linked to a 6 percent reduction; 2.5 grams of vegetable fiber was correlated with a 10 percent reduction.

The researchers concluded "A higher consumption of dietary fibre is associated with a lower risk of fatal IHD with no clear difference in the association with IHD for fibre from cereals, fruits or vegetables."