Practical aspects of implementing increased dietary fiber intake.

Two hundred twenty dietitians participated in a workshop conference on Health Implications of Dietary Fiber. They were given lectures to increase their knowledge base, and then in group sessions answered questions and wrote concensus opinions. The results are the content of this paper. The topics covered and responses are reported in four categories, diabetes and obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and coronary heart disease, gut function and gastrointestinal disease, and cancer. Specific recommendation for implementing high fiber diets are made in each category. However, the dietitians expressed caution on accepting all of the conclusions expressed in the literature on the value of fiber and believed much education and instruction is needed in order to increase dietary fiber intake.