Adding two bowls of high-fiber cereal a day may be an easy way for Americans to reduce their fat intake. Brenda M. Davy, M.S., R.D., reports that men who ate two servings of a high-fiber cereal per day made spontaneous changes to their diets that easily brought them in line with American Heart Association guidelines for fat and cholesterol consumption. Two servings of high-fiber cereal increased the study group’s daily fiber intake from an average of 20 grams to an average 30 grams, without any significant increase in total calories. The study participants reduced their daily fat intake by about 10 percent – from 91 grams to 82 grams of fat per day. As a result, saturated fat intake decreased significantly to less than 10 percent of total calories, and average intake of dietary cholesterol decreased 20 percent from an average of 347 milligrams a day to 239 per day. Because high-fiber cereal is very filling, the subjects reported eating fewer fatty foods, and many began choosing cereal as a snack.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: American Heart Association dietary conference on fatty acids, June 2000