Benefits of Fiber-Enriched Foods on Satiety and Parameters of Human Well-Being in Adults with and without Cardiometabolic Risk.

Consumption of fiber-rich foods is linked to beneficial effects on chronic diseases and gut health, while implications towards improving satiety and parameters of well-being remain unclear. A randomized placebo-controlled intervention study was conducted to compare the effects of fiber-enriched foods to their non-enriched counterparts in adults over a 12-week period on selected clinical parameters-satiety, quality of life, body sensation, and life satisfaction-subjective health status, and importance of diet for well-being. Quality of life (QOL) differed significantly between intervention and control groups at baseline, throughout, and at the end of the study. No effects on satiety, satisfaction with life, or the importance of diet for well-being could be shown between groups. With higher fiber intake, body sensation ratings increased. A higher BMI was significantly associated with lower-body sensation, subjective health status and quality of life. Fiber-enriched foods do not seem to affect feeling of satiety or parameters of well-being. Larger samples and additional methods are necessary to fully explore the effect of increased fiber intake on patient-related outcomes in more detail.

Offering Fiber-Enriched Foods Increases Fiber Intake in Adults With or Without Cardiometabolic Risk: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Previous efforts to increase fiber intake in the general population were disappointing despite growing awareness of the multiple benefits of a high fiber intake. Aim of the study was to investigate the acceptance and consumption of fiber-enriched foods. METHODS: One hundred and fifteen middle-aged healthy individuals with and without elevated waist circumference (> 102 cm in males and > 88 cm in females) were recruited and randomized to an intervention or an age- and sex-matched control group. Subjects assigned to the intervention group were invited to select fiber-enriched foods from a broad portfolio of products to increase fiber intake by 10 g/day. Control subjects could choose items from the same food basket without fiber enrichment. The primary outcome was the increase in dietary fiber intake, and secondary outcomes were changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, microbiota composition, food choices, and consumer acceptance of the fiber-enriched foods. RESULTS: Compared to baseline, daily fiber intake increased from 22.5 ± 8.0 to 34.0 ± 9.6 g/day after 4 weeks (p < 0.001) and to 36.0 ± 8.9 g/day after 12 weeks (p < 0.001) in the intervention group, whereas fiber intake remained unchanged in the control group. Participants rated the taste of the food products as pleasant without group differences. In both groups, the most liked foods included popular convenience foods such as pretzel breadstick, pizza salami, and pizza vegetarian. After 12 weeks of intervention, there were minor improvements in plasma lipids and parameters of glucose metabolism in both the intervention and control group compared to baseline, but no differences between the two groups. Increased fiber consumption resulted in an increased (p < 0.001) relative abundance of Tannerellaceae. CONCLUSIONS: Fiber-enrichment of popular foods increases fiber intake in a middle-aged population with and without cardiometabolic risk and may provide a simple, novel strategy to increase fiber intake in the population.

A Phenotyping Platform to Characterize Healthy Individuals Across Four Stages of Life - The Enable Study.

Introduction: Nutritional habits and requirements are changing over the lifespan, but the dynamics of nutritional issues and the diet-health relationship in the major stages of the human life cycle are not sufficiently understood. A human phenotyping research platform for nutrition studies was established to recruit and phenotype selected population groups across different stages of life. The project is the backbone of the highly interdisciplinary enable competence cluster of nutrition research aiming to identify dietary determinants of a healthy life throughout the lifespan and to develop healthier and tasty convenience foods with high consumer acceptance. Methods: The phenotyping program included anthropometry, body composition analysis, assessment of energy metabolism, health and functional status, multisensory perception, metabolic phenotyping, lifestyle, sociodemography, chronobiology, and assessment of dietary intake including food preferences and aversions. Results: In total, 503 healthy volunteers at four defined phases of life including 3-5-year old children (n = 44), young adults aged 18-25 years (n = 94), adults aged 40-65 years ("middle agers," n = 205), and older adults aged 75-85 years (n = 160) were recruited and comprehensively phenotyped. Plasma, serum, buffy coat, urine, feces and saliva samples were collected and stored at -80°C. Significant differences in anthropometric and metabolic parameters between the four groups were found. A major finding was the decrease in fat-free mass and the concomitant increase in % body fat in both sexes across the adult lifespan. Conclusions: The dataset will provide novel information on differences in diet-related parameters over the lifespan and is available for targeted analyses. We expect that this novel platform approach will have implications for the development of innovative food products tailored to promote healthy eating throughout life. Trial registration: DRKS, DRKS00009797. Registered on 20 January 2016, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&_ID=DRKS00009797.

Do Aspects of Protein Intake Vary Across the Week in Healthy Community-Dwelling Older Adults?-An enable Study.

Various aspects of protein intake are thought to be crucial for the prevention of sarcopenia in older adults. Information about the day-to-day variation in these aspects is lacking. Our objective was to examine whether daily protein intake, protein distribution across meals, number of meals providing adequate protein, and protein sources vary across the week in healthy community-dwelling older adults. In 140 persons (51% women) that were aged 75⁻85 years, protein intake was assessed by seven-day food records. On average across the week, protein intake (median [IQR]) was 0.93 [0.79⁻1.10] g/kg body weight (BW) and the coefficient of variation across the three main meals was 0.50 [0.40⁻0.61]. The number of meals per day providing ≥0.4 g protein/kg BW was 0.57 [0.43⁻1.00] and 60.0 [52.4⁻65.2]% of protein intake was animal-based. According to Friedman's test, differences throughout the week were observed in women for daily protein intake (p = 0.038; Sunday: 0.99 [0.78⁻1.31] vs. Tuesday: 0.79 [0.68⁻1.12] g/kg BW) and number of meals with adequate protein (p = 0.019; ≥1 daily meal: Sunday: 69.4% vs. Tuesday: 41.7%). On Sunday, protein intake was most in agreement with suggestions to prevent sarcopenia. In men, protein intake did not differ throughout the week.