Dietary fibre the secret to a long and healthy life

Australian researchers have discovered that in addition to keeping us ‘regular’, dietary fibre has another surprising benefit.

Scientists from The Westmead Institute for Medical Research have found that eating the right amount of fibre from breads, cereals and fruits can help to avoid disease and disability into old age.

Using data compiled from the Blue Mountains Eye Study, a benchmark population-based study which examined a cohort of more than 1600 adults aged 50 years and older for long-term sensory loss risk factors and systemic diseases, the researchers explored the relationship between carbohydrate nutrition and healthy ageing.

They found that out of all the factors they examined — which included a person’s total carbohydrate intake, total fibre intake, glycaemic index, glycaemic load and sugar intake — it was fibre intake that made the biggest difference to what the researchers termed ‘successful ageing’.

Successful ageing was defined as including an absence of disability, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, respiratory symptoms and chronic diseases including cancer, coronary artery disease and stroke.

The lead author of the paper, which was published in The Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Associate Professor Bamini Gopinath from the institute’s Centre for Vision Research, said the study is the first to look at the relationship between carbohydrate intake and healthy ageing, and the results were significant enough to warrant further investigation.

“Essentially, we found that those who had the highest intake of fibre or total fibre actually had an almost 80% 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.”

While it might have been expected that the level of sugar intake would make the biggest difference to successful ageing, Associate Professor Gopinath points out that the particular group the team examined were older adults whose intake of carbonated and sugary drinks was quite low.

Although it is too early to use the study results as a basis for dietary advice, Associate Professor Gopinath said the research has opened up a new avenue for exploration.

“There are a lot of other large-cohort studies that could pursue this further and see if they can find similar associations. And it would also be interesting to tease out the mechanisms that are actually linking these variables.”