A recent study by Ma Y, Olendzi BC, Wang J, et al. Single-Component Versus Multicomponent Dietary Goals for the Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2015 found that adding additional fiber to the diet can help a person lose weight, lower their blood pressure and blood sugar. Many of the diets that people try are too hard to follow and stick to so they wanted to see if making one change, i.e. adding fiber, could have any positive effects. They compared people who ate additional fiber to others who followed a more complex diet such as that recommended by the American Heart Association.
The bottom line is to try to add more healthy fiber to your diet. That fiber should come from foods, not supplements. Of course you should also try to eat a balanced diet and avoid too much salt and fatty meat.
If your goal is losing weight you might want to try adding more healthy fiber such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts and increasing your physical activity.
The authors did mention that some people might have trouble with additional fiber such as bloating or gas. If that happens they recommend consulting your physician. One way to avoid this is to gradually increase the amount of fiber in your diet.
Here is a link to a description of the study:
Eating More Fiber Helped People Lose Weight, Researchers Report
The researchers said that changing this one part of the diet can reduce weight, blood pressure and blood sugar level. However they also stressed that the following the AHA nutritional guidelines is an even better way to stay healthy.
For more information on healthy eating check out The American Heart Association’s Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations and