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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #275863
Title: Modeling dietary fiber intakes in US adults: implications for public policy

Author
item NICKLAS, THERESA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item O'NEIL, CAROL - Louisiana State University
item LISKA, DEANN - Kellogg Company
item ALMEIDA, NELSON - Kellogg Company
item FULGONI III, VICTOR - Nutrition Impact, Llc

Submitted to: Food and Nutrition Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/7/2011
Publication Date: 11/7/2011
Citation: Nicklas, T.A., O'Neil, C.E., Liska, D.J., Almeida, N.G., Fulgoni III, V.L. 2011. Modeling dietary fiber intakes in US adults: implications for public policy. Food and Nutrition Sciences. 2(9):925-931.

Interpretive Summary: The current recommendations for some foods to encourage (i.e. fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain pro- ducts) in the diets of Americans may result in a substantial increase in energy consumed depending on how the consumer interprets them. The implication is that consumers need to consume more of these foods. Dietary recommendations that call for an increase in consumption of foods need to be clear that this should be within energy needs. This recommendation must be further translated to include that the consumption of these foods, in their lowest fat form, needs to go together with decreasing other nutrient-poor foods, added fats, and added sugars in the diet. The challenge is how to get this message to the consumer in a way that is both useful and valuable to them.

Technical Abstract: The goal of this study was to simulate the application of the dietary recommendations to increase dietary fiber (DF)-containing foods. This study used 24-hour dietary recalls from NHANES 2003-2006 to model the impact of different approaches of increasing DF with current dietary patterns of US adults 19+ years: 1) increased all DF-containing foods by 10, 25, 50, or 100%; 2) increased DF content of low DF grain products to a good (2.5 g/serving) or an excellent source level (5.0 g/serving); and 3) increased intake of whole grain foods to meet the recommendation of one-half of total grain. By increasing DF-containing foods by 10, 25, 50, or 100% increased DF intake to 16.9, 18.9, 22.1, and 29.5 g/d, respectively with a concomitant increase in energy of 104, 260, 521, 1042 kcal/d, respectively. Adding 2.5 or 5.0 g/serving DF to low DF grain foods to resulted in DF intakes of 24.7 and 39.1 g/day, respectively without increased energy. Increasing consumption of whole grain foods increased DF intake to 25.3 g/day but with an additional 1266 kcal/d. The conclusion is that by adding additional DF to existing grain-based foods may be a reasonable approach to getting more DF, without increased energy, in the American diet.