Fiber Monograph - Dr. Rafelock

Fiber Monograph
Dr. Rafelock

While most people enjoy ♥HealthSMART™ coffee’s rich aroma, wonderful flavor, and low acidity, we thought you might enjoy knowing some of the reasons why our coffee is actually much healthier for you than other brands. So we are offering you nutritional information in monograph form with scientific support to demonstrate why switching to ♥HealthSMART Coffee makes good sense on so many levels.

This monograph will focus on ♥HealthSMART Coffee’s ability to provide healthy amounts of dietary fiber.

Only one in five Americans consumes the recommended daily amount of dietary fiber. Digestive health is a top priority for Americans, yet most people consume less than half of the RDA (daily recommended amount) of fiber, 38 grams/day for men and 25 grams/day for women.

According to the National Coffee Association, 82 percent of U.S. adults drink an average of 3.2 cups of coffee every day. Many people consume 3-16 ounce mugs per day providing 9 grams of fiber. In comparison, one medium sized raw apple contains only about 3 grams of fiber.

Soluble fibers are dispersible in water, while insoluble fibers are not. ♥HealthSMART Coffee is rich in soluble fiber.

There are many wonderful health benefits of increasing your daily intake of soluble fiber. Adding more fiber to your diet may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

  • Breast cancer
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Colon cancer
  • Constipation
  • Diabetes
  • Diverticulitis
  • Gallstones
  • High cholesterol
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Obesity
  • Syndrome X
  • Hemorrhoids
  • Normalizing Blood Sugar Levels
  • Promoting Bowel Regularity


When comparing the fiber in ♥HealthSMART coffee to foods, it was found that inadequate chewing can prevent the health benefits of fiber from being realized, since fibers that cannot be solubilized require extra chewing in order to yield their health benefits. Even whole grain flour loses over 40% of its bran and germ in the milling process; the two components of the grain that contain virtually all of its fiber. The fiber contained in ♥HealthSMART coffee is already in solubilized form and readily available to provide all of its health benefits.

Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Increasing intakes of refined carbohydrates and decreasing intakes of fiber in the U.S. have paralleled the increasing prevalence of type II Diabetes to near epidemic proportions. Although no intervention trials have evaluated the effect of increasing dietary fiber intake alone on type II diabetes prevention, two important intervention trials found that a combination of lifestyle modifications that included increasing fiber intake decreased the risk of developing type II diabetes in adults with impaired glucose tolerance. Although multiple factors, including obesity, inactivity, and genetics, increase the risk of developing type II DM, the results of observational studies and intervention trials indicate that fiber-rich diets improve glucose tolerance and decrease the risk of type II Diabetes.

Lowering Serum Cholesterol

Numerous controlled clinical trials have found that increasing the intake of soluble dietary fibers decreases serum total and LDL cholesterol. A meta-analysis that combined the results of 67 controlled trials found that even a modest 10 gram per day increase in viscous (soluble) fiber intake resulted in reductions in LDL-cholesterol averaging 22 mg/dL and reductions in total cholesterol averaging 17 mg/dL.

Lowering Post-Meal Blood Sugar

The addition of soluble dietary fiber to a carbohydrate-containing meal has been found to result in significant improvements in blood glucose and insulin responses in numerous controlled clinical trials. Large, rapid increases in blood glucose levels are potent signals to the beta-cells of the pancreas to increase insulin secretion. Over time, recurrent elevations in blood glucose and excessive insulin secretion are thought to increase the risk of developing type II diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease. When the carbohydrate content of two meals is equal, the presence of fiber, particularly soluble fiber, generally results in smaller but more sustained increases in blood glucose and thus significantly lower insulin levels. Since insulin is the fat-maker hormone, lowering insulin reduces fat gain.

Softening Stool and Helping Constipation

Increasing intakes of dietary fibers can prevent or alleviate constipation by softening and adding bulk to stool and by speeding its passage through the colon.

Sufficient fluid intake is also required to maximize the stool-softening effect of increased fiber intake. Since coffee itself is a fluid, it contains an ideal balance of soluble fiber and fluid.

Disease Prevention
Breast Cancer

A number of early case-control studies found significant inverse associations between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer incidence. Three studies have reported a protective effect of dietary fiber on breast cancer risk. A prospective cohort study in the UK found that dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women. Additionally, a prospective cohort study in Sweden found that postmenopausal women with the highest fiber intakes (averaging about 26 g/day) had a risk of breast cancer that was 40% lower than women with the lowest fiber intakes (averaging about 13 g/day). More recently, a prospective study in a cohort of more than 185,000 U.S. postmenopausal women found that those with the highest intakes of dietary fiber (median, 26 g/day) had a 13% lower risk of all forms of breast cancer and a 44% lower risk of hormone receptor-negative tumors (ER-/PR-) compared to those with the lowest intakes of dietary fiber (median, 11 g/day). A 2011 meta-analysis of ten prospective cohort studies found a 11% lower risk of breast cancer in women with the highest intakes of dietary fiber. Just two 16 ounce cups of ♥HealthSMART Coffee provides over 6 extra grams of soluble fiber per day.

Weight Control

There is evidence that higher fiber intake can help prevent weight gain or promote weight loss by extending the feeling of fullness after a meal (satiety). Observational studies have found that adults with higher intakes of dietary fiber are leaner and less likely to be obese than adults with low-fiber intakes. One large prospective cohort study found that women whose intake of high-fiber foods increased by an average of 9 g/day were half as likely to experience a major weight gain of at least 55 lbs.

Cardiovascular Disease

Prospective cohort studies have consistently found that high intakes of fiber rich foods are associated with significant reductions in coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and cardiovascular-related mortality. A pooled analysis of ten prospective cohort studies of dietary fiber intake in the U.S. and Europe found that each 10 g/day increase in total dietary fiber intake was associated with a 14% decrease in the risk of coronary events, such as myocardial infarction (heart attacks), and a 24% decrease in deaths from CHD. Drinking just 3-16 ounce mugs of ♥HealthSMART Coffee provides more than 9 grams of soluble fiber per day and may significantly decrease the incidence of cardiovascular events.

The beneficial effects of fiber consumption on blood glucose and insulin responses may also contribute to observed reductions in CHD risk. Low-fiber, high-glycemic load diets are associated with higher serum triglyceride levels and lower HDL cholesterol levels, two risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A meta-analysis of 24 randomized, placebo-controlled trials found that dietary fiber supplementation lowered diastolic and systolic blood pressure. Additionally, recent studies have indicated that higher consumption of dietary fiber may lower levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker of inflammation that is strongly associated with the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke. Thus, several mechanisms might contribute to the cardio-protective effect of dietary fiber.

Colorectal Cancer

The majority of case-control studies conducted prior to 1990 found the incidence of colorectal cancer was lower in people with higher fiber intakes. The largest colorectal cancer study to date, which included 519,978 men and women participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) project, found that dietary fiber from foods was protective against colon cancer development.

All-cause Mortality (Death)

Several prospective cohort studies have found higher intakes of dietary fiber to be associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes. A recent report from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which followed 388,122 (of) older adults for an average of nine years, found that men and women in the highest quintiles of dietary fiber intake had a 22% lower risk of mortality when compared to the lowest quintiles of dietary fiber intake.

Disease Treatment

Diabetes Mellitus

Numerous controlled clinical trials in people who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) have found that increasing fiber intake from food improves markers of glycemic control, particularly (after meal) postprandial glucose levels and serum lipid profiles. A meta-analysis that combined the results of 23 clinical trials comparing the effects of high-fiber diets with those of low-fiber diets in diabetic patients found that high-fiber diets lowered after-meal blood glucose concentrations by 13%-21%, serum LDL cholesterol concentrations by 8%-16%, and serum triglyceride concentrations by 8%-13. Based on the evidence from this meta-analysis, the authors and other international diabetes organizations recommend a dietary fiber intake of 25-50 g/day for individuals with diabetes. In general, the results of controlled clinical trials support recommendations that people with diabetes aim for high dietary fiber intakes. The average ♥HealthSMART Coffee drinker consuming 3 recommended servings can increase their fiber intake by 9 grams/day.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the intestines, characterized by episodes of abdominal pain or discomfort associated with a change in bowel movements, such as constipation or diarrhea. Thus, the results of randomized controlled trials suggest that increasing soluble or viscous fiber intake gradually to 12-30 g/day may be beneficial for patients in whom constipation is the predominant symptom of IBS.

EACH CUP ♥HealthSMART COFFEE DELIVERS TWO OR MORE TIMES THE AMOUNT OF FIBER FOUND IN:

¼ cup Prunes
1 cup Buckwheat, cooked

8 oz Shitake mushrooms, raw
1 cup Olives
1 whole Plum

5 oz Crimini mushrooms, raw
1 cup Oatmeal cooked

1 oz Miso
1 Banana
1 cup Corn, yellow, cooked
1 cup Pineapple
1 cup Cantaloupe, cubes
1 cup Potato, baked, with skin
¼ cup Sesame seeds

EACH CUP ♥HealthSMART™ COFFEE DELIVERS more dietary fiber than:

1 whole raw apple
1 Kiwifruit
1 cup Wheat, bulgur, cooked
1 cup Ripe Tomato
1 whole Orange
1 cup Kidney beans, cooked
1 cup Barley, cooked
1 whole Apricot
1 cup Blueberries 1 cup Onions, raw
1 cup Garbanzo beans, cooked
1 Papaya
½ Grapefruit
1 cup Beets, boiled
1 cup Navy beans, cooked
1 cup Figs, fresh
1/3 cup Rye, whole grain
1 Pear
1 cup Soybeans, cooked
1 cup Yam
1 Sweet potato, baked, with skin 1 cup Avocado

2 tsp Mustard seeds

In a Spanish study, scientists concluded that “brewed ♥HealthSMART coffee contained a significantly higher amount of soluble dietary fiber…than other common beverages. Coffee’s dietary fiber contains a large amount of associated antioxidant (phenolics)…”. Doctors tell us that fiber is good for us and that antioxidants help keep us young and disease free.

Because the average HealthSMART coffee consumer drinks 3.5 cups/day, this provides enough dietary fiber to make up more than 12% of the recommended daily fiber intake. The results showed that ♥HealthSMART coffee contains more soluble dietary fibers than both orange juice and wine combined!

As you can see, the many benefits of soluble dietary fiber, like that contained in each delicious cup of ♥HealthSMART Coffee have expanded far beyond digestive health to include weight control, immunity and insulin sensitivity, heart disease and may even offer some cancer prevention benefits.