Another dietary advantage to fiber.

Another dietary advantage to fiber

High-fiber breakfast may help the weight-conscious moderate their appetites, two new studies suggest. Because the high-fiber cereals used in these studies contained fewer calories per serving than the low- or no-fiber cereals selected for comparison, one might expect people who breakfast on them to compensate by eating more at lunch, note Allen S. Levine and his co-workers at the University of Minnesota and at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Minneapolis. Instead, they found " a significant inverse correlation" between a cereal's fiber content and the number of calories needed to sate an individual's appetite at breakfast and lunch, according to their report in the December AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION.

The team fed 7:30 breakfast of orange juice and a cold cereal with milk to healthy adults. Each person returned to the cafeteria 3-1/2 hours later to select a buffet lunch. In the first of two one-day studies, 14 subjects were randomly assigned one of five breakfast cereals, differing primarily in fiber content. Post Toasties had 0 grams fiber per 100 grams of cereal, Shredded Wheat had 11, Bran Chex had 18, All Bran had 35 and Fiber One had 39. The 19 subjects in the second study randomly received either Post Toasties or Fiber One for breakfast.

Overall, those breakfasting on the highest-fiber cereal consumed fewer calories than those receiving the lowest-fiber cereal -- roughly 100 calories less at breakfast and another 50 calories less at lunch. Such a reduction "could result in substantial weight loss if continued long-term," Levine and his colleagues say. Moreover, they note, a survey of participants in the second study indicated the caloric differences did not affect subjects' perceptions of fullness after either meal, suggesting calorie intake can be reduced without increasing hunger.