NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) People who eat a lot of fibre every day may be less likely to die prematurely from a range of illnesses including heart disease, cancer and infection, according to a US study.The benefits of fibre in weight loss, lowering cholesterol and protecting against heart disease have been well established by previous studies, but researchers said the finding that it might also help prevent other common killers was new.“The results from this study suggest that fibre may have broader health benefits than what has been found before,” said Frank Hu, who studies nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and wrote an editorial accompanying the study, which appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “The bottom line is that fibre should be a staple in our diet, and we should strive to eat as much fibre as possible,” Hu told Reuters Health, though he added that some of the benefits found in the current study need to be examined further.The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that adult women should eat about 25 grams of fibre each day and men about 38 grams. A half cup of boiled lentils contains about eight grams of fibre, while a half cup of raw almonds has nearly nine grams.For the study, 400,000 members of the American Association of Retired People (AARP) were tracked by Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute and her colleagues.