Heart attack survivors 'gain from high-fibre diet'

Conclusion This was a well-designed study. Although it was a cohort study and so cannot prove causation, attempts were made to analyse the results while taking multiple factors into account. Its strengths include that it used data from a large number of people and measured dietary habits over the previous year, which may be a more accurate assessment than snap-shot 24-hour food questionnaires. However, there will still be room for bias in people's recall and estimates of portion size. There were a few limitations to the study: it was not able to take into account people who suffered from a heart attack and died before the next scheduled food frequency questionnaire, which may have been up to four years after the heart attack the participants were all health professionals who fully completed the dietary questionnaires, as those who did not fully complete them were excluded – this may indicate that the participants were more likely to take an interest in their health and so the results may not be applicable to the general population the researchers point out that it may be other factors related to fibre intake that are having beneficial effects, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals they also acknowledge that people may have changed other aspects of their lifestyle after having a heart attack, which helped to lower their risk of death With these limitations in mind, this study adds to the body of evidence that shows the benefits of...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Source Type: news