Dietary fiber and body-weight weight regulation - Observations and mechanisms

Dietary fiber may have beneficial effects on body weight regulation through plausible physiological mechanisms that have considerable support in the scientific literature. A large number of short-term studies suggest that high fiber foods induce greater satiation and satiety. Epidemiologic studies generally support a role for fiber in body weight regulation among free-living individuals consuming self-selected diets, though conclusive intervention studies addressing this point are lacking. Few studies of dietary fiber have involved children as subjects; however, there is no physiologic reason to believe that results of studies of fiber in adults should not be applicable to pediatrics.