Dietary Fiber Prevents Carbohydrate-induced Hypertriglyceridemia

Plant foods rich in carbohydrate and dietary fiber have many health benefits. One concern often expressed about higher carbohydrate, lower fat diets is that they may increase fasting serum triglycerides. Recently the importance of hypertriglyceridemia as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease has been reaffirmed. For 40 years, clinicians have noted "carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia" when persons were fed high-carbohydrate, low-fiber diets. The role of fiber in protecting from carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia has not been discussed by many reviewers. Systematic review of the literature documents that high fiber intakes clearly protect from carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia. These are reviewed. Thus, recent and earlier research indicates that use of a higher carbohydrate, higher fiber diet compared with a lower carbohydrate, higher fat diet is associated with a small reduction in fasting serum triglyceride values.