The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Fibre rich diet results in zinc, copper and magnesium deficiencies

This study was published in the Journal of the Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 1996 Jun;10(2):68-76

Study title and authors:
Zinc, copper and magnesium absorption from a fibre-rich diet.
Knudsen E, Sandström B, Solgaard P.
Research Department of Human Nutrition, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8829129?dopt=Abstract

This study investigated the effect of a high-fibre and high-phytate diet on levels of zinc, copper and magnesium. The study lasted for 21 days and included eight healthy subjects who were given a diet of conventional foods that included 1 mmol phytic acid, 29 g dietary fiber, 140 mumol zinc, 13 mumol copper, and 9 mmol magnesium per 2,415 calories.

The study found:
(a) The subjects levels of zinc decreased by 7 mumol.
(b) The subjects levels of copper decreased by 5 mumol.
(c) The subjects levels of magnesium decreased by 3 mmol.

The study reveals that a fibre-rich diet is associated with a net loss of the nutrients zinc, copper and magnesium.