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Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

empirical.health

21–30 of 85 posts

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#21
post #7

For who? The Inuit? The Chinese? Europeans? People with my ice age genetics? (Nope) I despise studies that do not take genetics into account. Fiber made my cholesterol worse! The only thing that lowered my LDL and riased my HDL was a seafood only diet. Fiber flares my IBD, most likely from my NOD2 genetics[1][2]. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/35079107 [2] https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/22/4775 "IBD patients…

I mean, if you click on the first link you will open the paper they are summarizing[1]. It's a meta analysis of 64 studies, so you could certainly go through the studies and look at each population. However, the actual answer is that all population studies are only gross generalizations that may not apply to you. They are often quite useful because the odds are generally good that they do apply...but it's never certa…

Yeah, but I am at the tail end of these statistical curves and my life was absolute hell and doctors (but one) did nothing for me. And they kept telling me to eat fiber cause my cholesterol was so high and HDL was too low (30)!

If the meta analysis showed population differences, why did the article not bring it up? This is what is wrong with nutrition research, then never account fro genetics despite the huge about of evidence that it is extremely importnat.

The truth is that fiber does not reduce mortality for everyone by 23%. I would rather not be guessing with science and health. I lived through that and it took me years to get out of it.

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#22
post #15

Does eating fiber by itself reduce mortality? Or do healthy and wealthy people with active lifestyles and excellent healthcare happen to also eat more fiber?

This is honestly a limitation of nearly all nutrition research -- it's based on observational data.

Part of the reason we expect fiber to reduce mortality, rather than simply being a marker of other factors correlated with mortality, is that we can identify physiological mechanisms. For example, for cardiovascular mortality, fiber reduces LDL cholesterol / ApoB which lowers heart attack and stroke risk.

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#23
post #7

For who? The Inuit? The Chinese? Europeans? People with my ice age genetics? (Nope) I despise studies that do not take genetics into account. Fiber made my cholesterol worse! The only thing that lowered my LDL and riased my HDL was a seafood only diet. Fiber flares my IBD, most likely from my NOD2 genetics[1][2]. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/35079107 [2] https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/22/4775 "IBD patients…

> Fiber made my cholesterol worse!

Interesting: what is the evidence for causality there? Might you have antibodies/allergies involved, for instance?

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#24

Olipop ad?

(OP here) - no affiliation with Olipop. But we've tried all the fiber supplements around the office, and we found Olipop is a pretty palatable option compared to, say, psyllium husk (which forms a gel when combined with water).

Looks more like an ad for your app though... Which for some reason collects tons of data unrelated to health, like messages, location data, and photos/videos/files?

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#25
post #12

Super interesting to read! I have noticed a huge benefit from just adding Metamucil to my diet. The following lines from the article really resonate. >Insoluble fibers have fecal-bulking characteristics that may promote regular bowel movements and avoid constipation. >"Specifically, soluble fiber binds to bile acids in the intestine" I have started to take Metamucil more frequently because I was taking an algae suppl…

Did you have heartburn? I’m curious if adding Metamucil would help with that after hearing you feel less acidic.

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#28

Olipop ad?

(OP here) - no affiliation with Olipop. But we've tried all the fiber supplements around the office, and we found Olipop is a pretty palatable option compared to, say, psyllium husk (which forms a gel when combined with water).

Worth noting that Olipop's fiber comes from inulin, which can be purchased as a supplement and dissolves in water nicely. I'm very curious why inulin is such an unknown product - its a polysaccharide, so it tastes mildly sweet despite having minimal to no impact on glucose levels.

You'd think we'd have been supplementing almost all sugary foods/drinks with it for years, since it's a cheap and healthy sweetener.

Re: Fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%

#29
post #12

Super interesting to read! I have noticed a huge benefit from just adding Metamucil to my diet. The following lines from the article really resonate. >Insoluble fibers have fecal-bulking characteristics that may promote regular bowel movements and avoid constipation. >"Specifically, soluble fiber binds to bile acids in the intestine" I have started to take Metamucil more frequently because I was taking an algae suppl…

I kind of wonder what the best form of added fiber should be.

The thing about metamucil is that it has either added sugar or artificial sweeteners. the main ingredient is psyllium husk.

I like benefiber better - no taste, just sprinkle on food. But I don't know how wheat dextrin compares to psyllium husk (or other fibers)

A nurse I talked to takes psyllium husk by itself, and I wonder if that is better than metamucil.

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