In recent times, chronic diseases are becoming highly prevalent, and underlying the burden of most of these chronic diseases are pathologic pathways that involve inflammation and disruption of metabolic processes.
Research evidence in recent times has shown that our lifestyles have a huge role to play in the development of such inflammatory responses and metabolic dysfunction. Our diet, physical activities ,and sleep have been implicated.
Globally, guidelines on diet have recommended increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes due to their high content of antioxidant vitamins and fibers (US Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, 2015). Research evidences from epidemiological studies have revealed that diets rich in fruit, vegetables ,and whole grains reduce the risk of many chronic diseases (Husaini et al., 2017 and Chen et al., 2015).
Specifically, consumption of dietary fibr has been revealed to prevent diseases such as CVD (Veronese et al., 2018 ), type 2 diabetes (Weickert and Pfeiffer, 2018) ,and some forms of cancer (American Institute for Cancer Research, 2018).
Accordingly, evidence has revealed that intake of dietary fiber helps to reduce the risk of respiratory disease mortality as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Kaluza et al., 2018). Similarly, diets low in dietary fiber have been proven to impair the functioning of the immune system and promote the development of various immune-related disorders such as allergies and asthma (Meckenzie et al., 2017).
Asthma is a disease of various clinical manifestations and studies investigating its risk factors and control have established an association with diet. This present study investigated the association between intake of various forms and sources of dietary fiber with asthma symptoms score as well as the effect of dietary fiber consumption on asthma control (Andariansolo et al., 2019).
Participants were recruited online and completed three self-administered web-based dietary records. The investigation established that higher consumption of dietary fiber, regardless of the type and source was associated with fewer asthma symptoms among men and women.
However, when the sources of the fiber were put into consideration, the study revealed that consumption of fiber from seeds, fruits, and cereals was mostly associated with reduced asthma symptoms (Andariansolo et al., 2019).
Recommendations or take home from this study
1. Increased consumption of dietary fiber can help reduce asthma symptoms and overall control asthma; thus, readers should increase their intake of dietary fiber to prevent and control asthma.
2. Findings from this further reinforce the public health policies that encourage healthy eating habits with an emphasis on increased consumption of dietary fiber from insoluble sources like cereals.
Credits: Andrianasolo, R., Hercberg, S., Kesse-Guyot, E., Druesne-Pecollo, N., Touvier, Mathilde, Galan, P. and Varraso, R. (2019)