Fiber is the Future

In a recent study of general knowledge about dietary fiber, the Kellogg Company found that Americans are not-so-surprisingly, not-so-knowledgeable about the roles and sources of dietary fiber.

In a study of 1,006 adults conducted in November 2010, Kellogg’s found that of those surveyed:

• 20% mistakenly believed that meats and seafoods are a good source of fiber
• 17% thought dairy contains fiber
• 10% believed that water has fiber
• 15% thought that fiber is important only for promoting bowel regularity
• 72% surveyed expected whole grain foods to be good sources of fiber, when they aren’t necessarily are

The general population’s knowledge deficit about fiber isn’t surprising: Americans get less than half the amount of fiber they need each day.

Simple studies pointing out fundamental fiber knowledge gaps are good PR tools for cereal companies; a nearly similar study covered recently in this blog was conducted by General Mills with almost equivalent results.

While ready-to-eat breakfast cereals can be a good source of whole grain and dietary fiber, it is important to look for those that don’t contain added, functional fibers but that do have a minimal amount of added sugars. See this recent post for a list of recommended breakfast cereals that are high in fiber, low in sugar and iron-fortified.

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are a godsend for parents: they’re quick, affordable breakfast choices that, when carefully selected to minimize sugar content, provide a useful vehicle for the delivery of other important nutrients, like calcium (from milk) and iron.

Iron is a mineral, and an important micronutrient that is needed to make hemoglobin – the oxygen-carrying part of red blood cells.

Worldwide, iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency. Childhood growth impairment and learning capacity deficits can occur in iron deficient children.

Maternal iron stores that are transferred from mother to fetus at the end of pregnancy generally last for the first six months of life. After that, it is important that children receive iron fortified weaning foods and other dietary sources of iron.

Enter breakfast cereals…Since most kids don’t eat large quantities of iron-containing foods like meat, poultry and fish – ready-to-eat, iron-fortified cereals fill the iron-intake gap. For kids under 4, eating just 3/4 cup of Cheerios provides 50% of their day’s iron needs.

But a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that the cognitive benefits of supplemental iron might not be as strong as once thought. The study found that after an 8-year follow up, there was no significant differences in IQ between the group of infants and children who received supplemental iron (or zinc, placebo or iron-zinc combo) vs. those who did not.

The implication is that perhaps…more like, probably…the relationship between malnutrition and cognitive development involves more than just one or two minerals.

So is iron still important? Absolutely. Another recent study conducted in Nepal – where iron deficiency is prevalent – found that pregnant women who took iron and folic acid supplements had children that did better on IQ and fine motor skill tests than kids from moms who didn’t supplement during pregnancy.

What’s the bottom line?

Adequate iron intake is important for optimal cognitive development in children. Just how important….no one’s really sure. But it certainly remains the case that iron-fortified cereals are a great way to help kids meet their daily iron needs.

Here’s a short list of this dietitian’s recommendations of iron-fortified cereals good for kids:

• Cheerios – the yellow box – not the higher sugar Honey Nuts!
• Post Raisin Bran
• Original or Honey Kix – both are relatively low in sugar
• Quaker Life
• Total cereals
• Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats – the sugar is higher but the iron is there!

Turns out, fiber actually is the future…if you consider your future in terms of extended life expectancy.

A research study published in the most recent online edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine found that the men and women who ate the most fiber were 22% less likely to die in the following nine years than were those who ate the least fiber.

For the study, researchers collected data from 388,122 men and women who were part of the National Institutes of Health – AARP Diet and Health Study. The participants had to answer a questionnaire about their diet and they were then followed for nine years.

The authors concluded that their study, “shows that dietary fiber may reduce the risk of premature death from all causes, especially from cardiovascular disease and infection and respiratory diseases.”

These findings come on the heels of the recent release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new guidelines recommend consuming 14 grams of dietary fiber per 1000 calories per day – working out to about 25-28 grams of daily fiber for your typical healthy adult.

Additional findings of the NIH study include:

• Cardiovascular disease risk was cut by 24 percent in men and 34 percent in women who ate the most fiber
• Respiratory disease risk was cut by 56 percent in men and 59 percent in women who ate the most fiber
• An inverse relationship between dietary fiber intake and cancer death was observed in men but not women
• Dietary fiber from grains – but not from other sources – was significantly inversely related to total and cause-specific death in both men and women.