纤维如何降低患糖尿病的风险? 你的直觉可以保存线索

Eating more dietary fiber may help prevent Type 2 diabetes by promoting beneficial 肠道细菌 and substances produced during metabolism, 根据 一项新的研究 西班牙裔成年人.

"Consistent evidence suggests diabetes-protective effects of dietary fiber intake, 但这种保护究竟是如何发生的尚不清楚,”医生说。. 郑王, a study co-author and research assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

发现膳食纤维之间的联系, 肠道细菌, metabolites and Type 2 diabetes – a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease – could lead to more effective prevention of the condition, 王说. 例如, identifying which bacteria and metabolites in the body are linked to Type 2 diabetes risk paves the way for personalized diets and treatments to improve gut and metabolic health for people at risk, 他说.

这项研究, published Thursday in the 美国心脏协会 journal Circulation Research, 研究了11年前的数据,000多名参与者正在进行中 西班牙裔社区健康研究/拉丁裔研究. 在美国的西班牙裔成年人.S. have a higher chance of developing Type 2 diabetes than the overall population, 根据 the 疾病控制和预防中心.

The researchers found that higher fiber intake was associated with specific "good" 肠道细菌 and certain favorable metabolites in the blood – some of which were actually produced by 肠道细菌. Those gut microbes and metabolites were associated with lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during an average follow-up of six years.

"This is new evidence of why a higher intake in dietary fiber is beneficial, specifically to reduce the incidence of new-onset Type 2 diabetes 西班牙裔成年人,”医生说。. 罗伯特·H. 埃克尔, 内分泌科的名誉教授, Metabolism and Diabetes and the Division of Cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. 他没有参与这项研究.

"The recommendations for more dietary fiber intake can be further promoted based on this study, 但需要在其他(种族和民族)人群中进行验证,埃克尔说.

根据 联邦膳食指南在美国，大多数美国人.S. 成年人没有摄入足够的纤维. 建议的每日摄入量因年龄和性别而异, 但是40多岁的女性, 例如, 需要25克，而同年龄的男性需要31克.

Dietary fiber is mostly found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and cereals. It cannot be broken down, and much of it passes through the system undigested. 它最广为人知的作用是促进正常的排便. But the 一项新的研究 suggests fiber might also be feeding bacteria in the gut.

"What really surprised us – and turned out to be the most interesting part of our study – was how complex the communication is between 肠道细菌 and their human hosts,王说. "We learned that bacteria can affect disease risk through a vast array of mechanisms. 这种复杂性既令人惊讶又令人着迷, 揭示了我们肠道微生物群中深刻而微妙的相互作用." He said lab-based studies are needed to dive into the underlying mechanisms at play.

Although the study's observational design means it could not prove cause and effect, 王说 "the findings possess strong biological plausibility since some of the specific metabolites highlighted in this study can only be produced by bacteria and not by the human body." 这项研究 also relied on self-reported dietary fiber intake from participants, which can influence results since people might not always perfectly remember or accurately describe what they ate.

埃克尔 said future research should look at how else fiber might be exerting its beneficial effects in the body, 可能与消炎有关, 改善新陈代谢和胰岛素的分泌和作用, 调节体内血糖的激素.

"Dietary fiber is important to metabolic health, and we're beginning to understand why,埃克尔说.