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Fibre lowers metabolic syndrome in teens

Teenagers who eat a lot of fibre-rich foods are less likely to have metabolic syndrome, a new study shows.

But metabolic syndrome was not linked with teens' consumption of saturated fat or cholesterol.

Dr Joe Carlson, who heads the Division of Sports and Cardiovascular Nutrition at Michigan State University in East Lansing, led a team that analyzed the diets of over 2,000 US teens ages 12 to 19. They also looked for high blood pressure, hyperglycaemia, dyslipidaemia, and large waistlines in each child.

A warning

Overall, about 6% of the teens had metabolic syndrome. In the lowest tertile of fibre consumption (less than 3 g per 1,000 kilojoules), the rate of metabolic syndrome was 9%, compared to 3% in the highest tertile (11 g or more per 1,000 kJ).

It's a warning, said Dr Carlson.

The study, reported this month in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is based on government data collected between 1999 and 2002 for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

(Reuters Health, November 2011) 

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Fibre

Metabolic syndrome

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