Not just fibre--the nutritional consequences of refined carbohydrate foods

The dietary intake of 28 volunteers was assessed over two 6-week periods while they ate, alternately, a diet containing refined carbohydrate foods in commonly consumed amounts and a diet virtually devoid of such foods. The following nutritional effects of refined foods were observed: increased energy intake (except in low consumers of sugar), decreased intake of dietary fibre, and decreased intake of nearly all the vitamins and minerals recorded in tables of food composition. These effects may have harmful consequences.