Nutrition, Diet, and Anti-aging: High Fermentation Dietary Fiber and Anti-aging

The intake of dietary fiber among Japanese people has been decreasing over the years, and it has been epidemiologically proven to be a risk factor for various diseases, including lifestyle diseases. According to a meta-analysis on the intake of dietary fiber and the risk of lifestyle diseases, in observational studies, the group with the highest intake of dietary fiber had a 15–30% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary artery disease onset, stroke onset and death, type 2 diabetes onset, and colon cancer onset compared to the group with the lowest intake [1]. Furthermore, in a meta-analysis of prospective clinical trials, the group with a higher intake of dietary fiber had significantly lower body weight, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol compared to the group with a lower intake. The association between these important outcomes and the risk reduction by dietary fiber is maximized when the daily intake of dietary fiber is between 24 and 29 g (Fig. 94.1). Moreover, it was revealed that an increase of 8 g/day in dietary fiber intake from food reduces the all-cause mortality rate by 7% (95% CI 0.90–0.95), the incidence of coronary heart disease by 19% (95% CI 0.73–0.90), the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 15% (95% CI 0.82–0.89), and the incidence of colon cancer by 8% (95% CI 0.89–0.95). It was suggested that a higher intake of dietary fiber could be even more beneficial in preventing cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and breast cancer. The “Dietary Guidelines for Japanese People (2020 Edition)” set by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare also indicates that it is effective in preventing lifestyle diseases as shown in Table 94.1.