The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between dietary fibre intake and some clinical indices, blood biochemical variables and the incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancers in France, taking advantage of an ongoing cohort, the Supplementation en Vitamines et Minéraux AntioXydants (SU.VI.MAX) intervention study. This preliminary report provides data on dietary fibre intake in this French adult population group of 4080 subjects (2168 men and 1912 women) aged 45-65 years at inclusion. The data obtained for fibre intake indicate that most men and women have low to moderate intakes of total dietary fibre (mean 21.0 and 17.1 g/d respectively), with only 21 % of the men and 7 % of the women having total dietary fibre intakes at the recommended level (i.e. > 25 g/d) and soluble fibre accounting for 19 % of the total dietary fibre intake for both genders. The main food sources of dietary fibre are cereals (30-35 % total), vegetables (20-24 % total) and fruit (19-22 % total). No marked regional differences were observed within France. The highest dietary fibre intakes have been found to be associated with a lower BMI, blood systolic pressure, plasma triacylglycerols and plasma glucose in men and lower BMI in women. Overall, these data support the concept of a beneficial effect of a high dietary fibre intake on cardiovascular disease risk.