|
 dding two bowls of high-fiber cereal a day may be
an easy way for Americans to reduce their fat intake, according
to research presented here today at the American Heart Association
dietary conference on fatty acids.
 Researchers
found that men who ate two servings of a high-fiber cereal per
day made spontaneous changes to their diets that easily brought
them in line with American Heart Association guidelines for fat
and cholesterol consumption.
Brenda M.
Davy, MS, RD, who reported the study at a conference on Dietary
Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Health says, "It's really
a very simple message. Two servings of high-fiber cereal each
day, such as oatmeal or cold cereals with oat bran or wheat fiber,
can replace foods that are high in fat and cause an overall improvement
in an individual's diet." Davy is a research dietitian in
the department of food science and human nutrition at Colorado
State University in Fort Collins, CO.
The 36 men,
ages 55 to 75, ate two medium-sized servings of cereal containing
a total of 14 grams of fiber. They ate one serving of the cereal
for breakfast and the second as a snack later in the day. Half
the men in the study ate oat cereal that was high in soluble
fiber and the other half ate wheat cereal that is high in insoluble
fiber. Both groups of men experienced comparable changes in dietary
fat, fiber and cholesterol consumption. However, an earlier analysis
of the men found that those eating the oat cereal experienced
more beneficial changes to their blood lipid profiles compared
to those eating wheat cereal.
The two servings
of high-fiber cereal increased the men's daily fiber intake from
an average of 20 grams to an average 30 grams. This was done
without any significant increase in total calories, according
to Davy. In addition, the men reduced their daily fat intake
by about 10 percent - from 91 grams to 82 grams of fat per day.
Saturated fat intake decreased significantly to less than 10
percent of total calories.
Average intake
of dietary cholesterol decreased 20 percent from an average of
347 milligrams a day to 239 per day. The American Heart Association
recommends a daily dietary cholesterol intake of 300 mg. or less.
"Encouraging
people to eat fiber-rich cereal may be a simple, yet effective
strategy to produce global improvements in diet," Davy says.
"When dietitians are working with clients we give them a
lot of information. All of those numbers can be overwhelming
and people may not know how to make the necessary dietary changes.
"This
analysis shows that merely increasing your fiber intake may be
an easy way to achieve those dietary recommendations."
Although researchers
did not ask the men to make any dietary changes other than adding
the high-fiber cereal, they suspected the cereal would displace
other foods.
"High-fiber
cereal is very filling," Davy says. "Once they began
eating the two daily servings of high-fiber cereal, the men reported
eating fewer fatty foods such as omelets, breakfast sandwiches,
bagels with cream cheese and breakfast pastries. And many of
them reported that they'd replaced their after-dinner ice cream
snack with the cereal snack."
Many of the
men in the study complained that eating the cereal each day became
monotonous after 12 weeks, but on the positive side they also
said it was easy to follow and compliance averaged about 95 percent,
Davy says.
A diet high
in saturated fat has been linked to increases in blood cholesterol
levels that can lead to atherosclerosis, a fatty buildup in the
arterial walls that increases a person's risk of a heart attack
or stroke. To reduce that risk, the American Heart Association
recommends that individuals limit their consumption of saturated
fat to no more than 8 percent to 10 percent of total calories
and their daily total fat intake to no more than 30 percent of
calories. 
|
