Dietary Fiber and 10-year Cardiovascular disease risk, the role of family history; ATTICA study

Aims: This work aimed at exploring the effect of dietary fiber consumption in the 10-year incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), after controlling for the possible mediating role of family history of CVD. Methods: The ATTICA study was carried out in the Athens metropolitan area during 2001-2 and included a total sample of 1514 men and 1528 women (aged 18-89) free of CVD at baseline. During 2011-12, the 10-year follow-up was performed and 2583 participants were assessed. A variety of socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors were recorded, including history of CVD. The evaluation of dietary habits was based on a valid semi-quantitative questionnaire of food frequency, through dietary fiber consumption in g/day was measured, indirectly. Fiber-consumers were categorized according the amount of intake in low (<34.5g/day), medium (34.5-43.1g/day) and high (>43.1g/day) intake groups. Results: 33.5% of the subjects consumed dietary fibers, in a daily basis. After controlling for several potential confounding factors, proportional hazard analysis revealed no statistically significant relevance among fibers and CVD risk (medium to low intake: OR=0.53, 95% CI:0.221-1.274 and high to low intake: OR=0.64, 95% CI:0.270-1.559). However, sample stratification by family history of CVD, highlighted that high fiber intake (>43.1g/day) led to a reduction of 82% (OR=0.18, 95% CI:0.045-0.721) in the 10-year CVD risk in those reporting presence of CVD history, compared to those who did not, where results were not significant (OR=1.59, 95% CI:0.422-6.054). Conclusion: In the present study, a higher intake of dietary fiber was associated with a lower risk of CVD, in the presence of a strong CVD risk factor, such as family history. Therefore, an adherence to a diet of high fiber content could have potentially, a large impact on primary prevention of CVD.