Association between dietary fiber intake and epilepsy risk: A cross- sectional analysis using weighted data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder resulting from abnormal neuronal discharges in the brain.The pathogenesis is intricate and remains partially understood.Dietary fiber reduces postprandial blood glucose and lipid levels, enhancing metabolism and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, with metabolic factors also linked to epilepsy.This research investigated the link between dietary fiber intake and epilepsy risk among U.S. adults. Methods: Logistic regression models were developed using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the United States, covering the period from 2013 to March 2020.The relationship between dietary fiber intake and epilepsy risk was examined.Restricted cubic spline regression (RCS) was used for linear testing to explore whether there was a quantitative relationship between score values and risk.Subgroup and interaction analyses were performed to evaluate the stability of the relationship between dietary fibre and risk for epilepsy in different subgroups. Results: Data from 11,828 respondents, of whom 93 were diagnosed with epilepsy, were included in this study.In a fully adjusted multiple logistic regression model, dietary fiber, treated as a continuous variable, was inversely related to epilepsy risk (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.27–0.76; P = 0.004).In a fully adjusted model, individuals with high dietary fiber intake had a reduced risk of epilepsy compared to those with low intake (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.12–0.61; P = 0.003).In the RCS linear test, an inverse association was found between dietary fiber intake and epilepsy risk (nonlinearity, P = 0.97).The stratified analyses showed consistent relationships with no significant interactions across subgroups. Conclusions: In a sample of U.S. adults, dietary fiber intake showed an inverse relationship with epilepsy risk, with each unit increase in the natural log-transformed dietary fiber intake correlating to a 55% reduction in epilepsy risk.