Impact of fiber-fortified food consumption on anthropometric measurements and cardiometabolic outcomes: A systematic review, meta-analyses, and meta-regressions of randomized controlled trials
Delia Pei Shan Lee, Aiwei Peng, Fransisca Taniasuri, Denise Tan, Jung Eun Kim
Abstract
The consumption of processed and refined food lacking in fiber has led to global prevalence of obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. Fiber-fortification into these foods can yield potential health improvements to reduce disease risk. This meta-analyses aimed to evaluate how fiber-fortified food consumption changes body composition, blood pressure, blood lipid-lipoprotein panel, and glycemic-related markers. Searches were performed from 5 databases, with 31 randomized controlled trial eventually analyzed. Hedges’ g values (95% confidence interval [CI]) attained from outcome change values were calculated using random-effects model. Fiber-fortified food significantly reduced body weight (−0.31 [−0.59, −0.03]), fat mass (−0.49 [−0.72, −0.26]), total cholesterol (−0.54 [−0.71, −0.36]), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (−0.49 [−0.65, −0.33]), triglycerides (−0.24 [−0.36, −0.12]), fasting glucose (−0.30 [−0.49, −0.12]), and HbA1c (−0.44 [−0.74, −0.13]). Subgroup analysis differentiated soluble fiber as significantly reducing triglycerides and insulin while insoluble fiber significantly reduced body weight, BMI, and HbA1c. Greater outcome improvements were observed with solid/semi-solid food state than liquid state. Additionally, fiber fortification of <15 g/day induced more health outcome benefits compared to ≥15 g/day, although meta-regression found a dose-dependent improvement to waist circumference (p-value = 0.036). Findings from this study suggest that consuming food fortified with dietary fiber can improve anthropometric and cardiometabolic outcomes.