Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 10, 1994                   TAG: 9405100076
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JEFF NESMITH COX NEWS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FED TO TAKE A NEW LOOK AT HIGH FIBER DIETS

The Food and Drug Administration will assemble health experts from around the country here this week to update known facts about the association between dietary fiber and these two killer diseases.

Scientists who played key roles several years ago in generating intense public interest in the possible cholesterol-lowering effects of oat bran will participate, along with skeptics.

Recent studies that suggest links between low-fiber diets and cancer also will be reviewed, the agency said.

FDA officials say one purpose of the conference, to be held on Thursday and Friday, is to determine if there's sufficient agreement among scientists to allow food and dietary supplement manufacturers to make health claims about fiber on their packaging labels.

Under its new food labeling law, the FDA refused last year to allow food labels to bear claims of associations between dietary fiber and either cancer or coronary heart disease.

At the same time, the agency's official position is that consumption of diets low in saturate fat and cholesterol and high in fruits, vegetables and grain products that contain fiber _ particularly soluble fibers like those found in legumes and oat bran _ may be associated with reduced risk of heart disease.

In announcing plans for this week's review of the topic, FDA said it "intends, if the evidence justifies, to authorize any claims that are warranted" and wants to learn what the experts can agree on. Dr. Tim Byers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is one of the nutrition experts scheduled to participate. He will chair a session on the relationship between fiber and cancer.

Byers reported three years ago that a CDC survey showed that nearly 40 percent of the calories in the average American's diet come from fat _ as opposed to the 30 percent recommended by many health experts.

He described a truly low-fat diet as five or six servings of fruits and vegetables and about six servings of legumes or whole grains a day. Americans currently won't eat that, he noted. Dr. James Anderson, the University of Kentucky nutritionist who kicked off the oat bran surge several years ago with studies that he said showed that soluble fiber in oat bran and similar foods reduced the "bad" low density lipoprotein cholesterol more than some anti-cholesterol drugs, will also participate in the conference.

The meeting is co-sponsored by the Congressional Research Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, the Federal Trade Commission and the American Society of Clinical Nutrition.

The FDA has invited public participation in the meeting. For information call James T. Tanner of the FDA Office of Special Nutritionals at (202) 205-4168.