Erkkilä Arja T, Lichtenstein Alice H
Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2006 Jan-Feb;21(1):3-8. doi: 10.1097/00005082-200601000-00003.
Dietary fiber consists of edible parts of plants or analogous carbohydrates that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine. Fiber can be classified as a dietary source (eg, cereal, fruit, vegetable, or legume) or as a supplement. Based on chemical properties, fiber can be divided to water-soluble (eg, beta-glucans, pectin, and guar) and insoluble (eg, cellulose and lignin) forms. An increasing number of observational findings have reported a lower incidence of coronary heart disease in subjects who report consuming diets high in fiber. Dietary fiber is thought to affect several cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Soluble fiber decreases serum total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations and improves insulin resistance. The effect of fiber on inflammatory markers and coagulation is not yet well established. While soluble, gel-forming fiber has beneficially affected CVD risk factors, food sources of mainly insoluble fibers, primarily contributed by cereal products, have been the most consistently associated with lower incidence rates of CVD. Despite this contradiction, the evidence promotes a food-based approach favoring increased intake of whole-grain cereals, fruit, and vegetables providing a mixture of different types of fibers for CVD prevention.
膳食纤维由植物的可食用部分或类似碳水化合物组成，这些物质在人体小肠中难以消化和吸收。纤维可分为膳食来源（如谷物、水果、蔬菜或豆类）或补充剂。根据化学性质，纤维可分为水溶性（如β-葡聚糖、果胶和瓜尔豆胶）和不溶性（如纤维素和木质素）形式。越来越多的观察结果表明，摄入高纤维饮食的人群中冠心病发病率较低。膳食纤维被认为会影响多种心血管疾病（CVD）风险因素。可溶性纤维可降低血清总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇浓度，并改善胰岛素抵抗。纤维对炎症标志物和凝血的影响尚未完全明确。虽然可溶性、形成凝胶的纤维对心血管疾病风险因素有有益影响，但主要由谷物产品提供的主要为不溶性纤维的食物来源，一直与心血管疾病较低的发病率最为相关。尽管存在这种矛盾，但现有证据支持以食物为基础的方法，即增加全谷物、水果和蔬菜的摄入量，以提供不同类型纤维的混合物来预防心血管疾病。
