High Dietary Fiber Intake Reduces Serum C Reactive Protein Levels

According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (83, 4:760-6, 2006) the consumption of dietary fiber may protect against disease-causing inflammation. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts collected data from 524 subjects on their body composition, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, diet, and physical activity at the beginning of the study and at three month intervals for a total of five visits.

The association between serum CRP and dietary fiber intake was analyzed. Researchers found an inverse association between intake of total dietary fiber (separately for both the soluble and insoluble types of fiber) and CRP concentrations in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The likelihood of elevated CRP concentrations was 63% lower in participants in the highest quartile of total fiber intake than in participants in the lowest quartile. Researchers concluded that high dietary fiber intake is protective against high CRP.

CRP is a marker for inflammation, indicating a heightened state of inflammation in the body. While inflammation is the body's normal response to fever, injury or infection, chronic inflammation is now believed to play a role in the initiation and progression of cardiovascular disease. In studies involving large numbers of patients, CRP levels correlate with increased risk of cardiac disease. The serum CRP level has been found to be at least as predictive of cardiac risk as the cholesterol level. Data from the Physicians Health Study, a clinical trial involving 18,000 apparently healthy physicians, found that elevated levels of CRP were associated with a threefold increase in the risk of heart attack. In the Harvard Women's Health Study, results of the CRP test were more accurate than cholesterol levels in predicting coronary problems. Twelve different markers of inflammation were studied in healthy, postmenopausal women. After three years of study, CRP was the strongest predictor of risk. Women in the group with the highest CRP levels were more than four times as likely to have died from coronary disease, or suffered a nonfatal heart attack or stroke.

Bio-Design Maxi-Fiber is a combination of two water-soluble dietary fibers. Psyllium seed husks derived from a species of Plantain. The other fiber is rice bran, an excellent fiber, that in the past it has been difficult to use because it required refrigeration. Maxi-Fiber uses a patented, stabilized rice bran that remains fresh without refrigeration. The combination of psyllium, which tends to be mucilaginous, with stabilized rice bran, which is more granular, yields a highly palatable fiber supplement that disperses evenly and mixes readily with water or juice. Additionally, Rice bran has a natural sweetness requiring no added sugar or other sweeteners. Maxi Fiber also contains Grapefruit pectin, a natural astringent detoxifier, and lactobacillus bifidus, "friendly" bowel bacteria.

It is beneficial to take Maxi-Fiber before a meal, three times daily. Mix one teaspoon with 4 oz. of water or juice and drink immediately, then drink additional liquid with the meal.