Background: Periodontitis is a chronic multifactorial inflammatory disease, that leads to tooth loss and is associated with other systemic diseases. The role of dietary fibre in the prevention and management of periodontal diseases is not well understood. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess how an intake of dietary fibre affects periodontal diseases in humans and any concomitant effects on systemic inflammation. Methodology: Human interventional studies investigating the effects of oral fibre intake on various clinical parameters of periodontal diseases were included. Search strategy with MeSH and free-text search terms was performed on the following database: CINAHL Complete, EMBASE, MEDLINE, SciVerse Scopus^®, and Web of Science Core Collection on 21 October 2021 and updated on 19 February 2023 to identify relevant studies. Articles were filtered using the Covidence© web-based platform software. Data were pooled using random effects meta-analysis. Results: From all databases, a total of 19,971 studies were obtained. Upon title and abstract screening, 101 studies were included for full-text screening. Upon full-text screening, six studies were included for analysis. Of these, five were randomised controlled trials, and one was a sequential feeding trial involving fibre-rich daily diet for a 4–8 weeks period. Fibre-rich dietary intervention significantly reduced Clinical Attachment Loss/Level by 0.48 mm/tooth (95% CI, −0.63 to −0.33, p < 0.001), Bleeding On Probing by 27.57% sites/tooth (95% CI −50.40 to −4.74, p = 0.02), Periodontal Inflamed Surface Area by 173.88 mm² (95% CI −288.06 to −59.69, p = 0.003), Plaque Index by 0.02 (95% CI −0.04 to −0.00, p = 0.04), and Gingival Index by 0.41 (95% −0.67 to −0.16, p= 0.002). A non-significant reduction was observed for Probing Depth (−0.17 mm/tooth; 95% CI, −0.37 to 0.02, p = 0.09). Conclusions: Fibre-rich dietary interventions are associated with a reduction of clinical and particularly inflammatory markers of periodontal diseases. This shows a promising effect of dietary fibre as an intervention for inflammatory conditions like periodontal diseases.

Background: During recent years several studies have investigated the impact of different dietary oils on body weight. They have shown differential positive and negative effects on anthropometry. We investigated the effects of palm and coconut oils on body weight and other anthropometric parameters, considering their importance as a primary source of saturated fat, controlling for other confounding variable such as total energy intake. Methods: The study was conducted as a sequential feeding clinical trial with 40 healthy men and women divided into two feeding periods of initial palm oil (8 weeks) and subsequent coconut oil (8 weeks), with a 16-week washout period in between. Each participant received a pre-determined volume of each oil, which were integrated into their routine main meals and snacks during the respective study periods. Changes in body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were evaluated. Physical activity levels and dietary intake were also evaluated as potential confounding factors. Results: Thirty-seven participants completed both oil treatment periods. The mean (± SD) age of the participants was 39 (± 13.1) years. There were no significant differences in any of the anthropometric parameters between the initial point of feeding coconut oil and the initial point of feeding palm oil. Following both oil treatment phases, no significant changes in the subjects’ body weight, BMI, or other anthropometric measurements (WC, HC, and WHR) were observed. Conclusion: Neither coconut oil nor palm oil significantly changed anthropometry-related cardiovascular risk factors such as body weight, BMI, WC, HC, and WHR. Trial registration: Sri Lankan Clinical Trial Registry: SLCTR/2019/034 on 4th October 2019 (https://slctr.lk/trials/slctr-2019-034).