Dietary fibre and metabolic health: A clinical primer

Abstract

	1. Consumption of dietary fibre has been linked with innumerable health benefits encompassing the foundational pillars of metabolic health with many of these benefits linked with metabolites produced by the fermentation of fibre by gut microbes
	2. At the present time clinicians are faced with an impossible task in which there is rapidly mounting evidence for dietary fibres advancing metabolic health, but little practical options for healthcare providers other than to simply recommend patients consume more fibre.
	3. Benefits of fibre intake may perhaps be maximised in an individual by matching specific fibre consumption with existing microbial functional characteristics
	4. If dietary fibres could be demonstrated to act as successful adjuncts to sustain or improve standard of care therapies or even alleviate common gastrointestinal side effects associated with current treatments, they would be an invaluable tool in our metabolic health armamentarium. Neither Dr. Madsen or I have any financial conflicts of interest pertinent to the contents of this manuscript.

Keywords

fibre / metabolism

References

[1] DeehanEC, MocanuV, MadsenKL. Effects of dietary fibre on metabolic health and obesity. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024; 21(5): 301-318.

[2] LudwigDS, Pereira MA, KroenkeCH, et al. Dietary fiber, weight gain, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young adults. JAMA. 1999; 282(16): 1539-1546.

[3] FuL, ZhangG, QianS, Zhang Q, TanM. Associations between dietary fiber intake and cardiovascular risk factors: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Front Nutr. 2022; 9: 972399.

[4] RamezaniF, Pourghazi F, EslamiM, et al. Dietary fiber intake and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Clin Nutr. 2024; 43(1): 65-83.

[5] DeehanEC, WalterJ. The fiber gap and the disappearing gut microbiome: implications for human nutrition. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2016; 27(5): 239-242.

[6] DeehanEC, YangC, Perez-MunozME, et al. Precision microbiome modulation with discrete dietary fiber structures directs short-chain fatty acid production. Cell Host Microbe. 2020; 27(3): 389-404.

[7] ArmstrongHK, Bording-Jorgensen M, SanterDM, et al. Unfermented beta-fructan fibers fuel inflammation in select inflammatory bowel disease patients. Gastroenterology. 2023; 164(2): 228-240.

[8] JovanovskiE, MazharN, KomishonA, et al. Can dietary viscous fiber affect body weight independently of an energy-restrictive diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020; 111(2): 471-485.

[9] HuwilerVV, Schonenberger KA, Segesser von BruneggA, et al. Prolonged isolated soluble dietary fibre supplementation in overweight and obese patients: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Nutrients. 2022; 14(13).

[10] ArmetAM, DeehanEC, ThoneJV, Hewko SJ, WalterJ. The effect of isolated and synthetic dietary fibers on markers of metabolic diseases in human intervention studies: a systematic review. Adv Nutr. 2020; 11(2): 420-438.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2024 The Author(s). Clinical and Translational Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.