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Dietary Fiber and Mineral Absorption

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Medical Aspects of Dietary Fiber

Part of the book series: Topics in Gastroenterology ((TGEN))

Abstract

The observation that diets rich in cereals produced rickets in puppies if they were also fed inadequate amounts of a fat-soluble vitamin was made by Mel-lanby1 during the First World War. The historical development of the concept that phytate might be involved in this rachitic effect has been set out by Wid-dowson,2 one of the pioneers in this field. The observations were extended to man more than 40 years ago by McCance and co-workers during studies on the nutritional effects of whole-grain bread and oatmeal.3–5 At that time, the deleterious effect of many unrefined foods, particularly cereals, on calcium and iron balances was ascribed to their phytate content. Only recently has fiber itself been implicated, and the concern for the malabsorption of other minerals been extended to include zinc. Much of this older work is still relevant today, and, since these classic studies are often neglected when considering the problem of mineral malabsorption on high-fiber diets, they will be evaluated in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, England

    W. P. T. James

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Syntex Research, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Gene A. Spiller

  2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Ruth McPherson Kay

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© 1980 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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James, W.P.T. (1980). Dietary Fiber and Mineral Absorption. In: Spiller, G.A., Kay, R.M. (eds) Medical Aspects of Dietary Fiber. Topics in Gastroenterology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9176-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9176-4_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-9178-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-9176-4

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