History of Vahouny Fiber Symposia

Dr. Kritchevsky and Mr. Charles Bonfield introduced a series of Vahouny Dietary Fiber Symposia. Their goal was to show how the science of dietary fiber research has become progressively more sophisticated over the years as we need to expand and modernize our view of dietary fiber.

Research presented at the 1st Vahouny Symposium in 1981included analyses of intestinal contents of animals and stool contents of humans and measurements of the effects of dietary fiber on nutrient absorption.

The 2nd Vahouny Symposium, held in 1984, focused more on the effects of dietary fiber in various diseases and medical problems. At this meeting, researchers began to report effects of dietary fiber and diabetes, colon cancer, lipid metabolism, obesity, and other disease conditions.

In 1988, the 3rd Vahouny Symposium continued the focus which had begun in 1984 and featured a 1-day satellite symposium, entitled 'Future Directions in Research on Dietary Fiber and Cancer', sponsored by the US National Cancer Institute.

The program of the 4th Vahouny Symposium, conducted in 1992, began to look into new research areas such as the energy value of fiber; lipid absorption and cholesterol lowering effects, fiber and dietary estrogens; and protective mechanisms of fiber and cancer.

The 5th Vahouny Symposium, conducted in 1996, featured half-day sessions on 'Complex Carbohydrates' (sponsored by the International Life Sciences Institute), 'Soluble Fiber', 'Short Chain Fatty Acids', and 'Nutrients Contributing to the Fiber Effect'.

The 6 th Vahouny Symposium on Dietary Fiber in Health and Disease was held in conjunction with Nutrition Adelaide 98 in 1998. The proceedings of this symposium were published in a special supplement of the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 8, 1999.

The 7th International Vahouny Symposium was held at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh Scotland in May 2002. The proceedings of this symposium were published in a special supplement to the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, Vol. 62, No.1, 2003.

The 8 th Vahouny symposium was held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2004 (sponsored by the International Life Sciences Institute-Japan).

The history of Vahouny Fiber Symposia has been adopted and modified from Charles Bonfield's summaries which were published in Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1999; 8:59S-60S and in Foods Food Ingredients J. Jpn., Vol. 210, No.11, 2005.

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