Eating whole grains
such as popcorn, oats and quinoa is linked to increased longevity and may
decrease risk for deaths from cardiovascular disease over a 25-year period, but
not cancer deaths, according to a new study, Live Science reports.
The new research is
one of many large studies that tie a diet high in whole grains to increased
longevity, including deaths due to cardiovascular disease.
"I think it's
quite conclusive that if you eat whole grains, you almost always benefit,"
said the new study's senior researcher, Dr Qi Sun, an assistant professor of
nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
In the study, the
researchers looked at two large studies, including about 74,000 women who were
taking part in the Nurses' Health Study, and nearly 44,000 men participating in
the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The participants recorded their
whole-grain intake on food surveys given every two to four years.
After 24 to 26 years,
26,920 people in the studies had died.
The new study has
three main findings, Sun said. First, the researchers found that people who ate
at least 28 grams of whole grains a day had a 5 percent lower risk of dying
over the study period, and a 9 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular-disease-related
death than people who ate little or no whole grains during the course of the
study.
The researchers also
found that eating the part of the whole grain called the bran had the largest
effect on reducing mortality and deaths from cardiovascular disease. The bran
is the tough skin that covers the kernel of a whole grain, and holds
antioxidants, B vitamins and fibre. Processing whole grains into refined grains
typically removes much of the grains' bran, according to the Harvard School of
Public Health.
People in the study
who replaced one serving a day of refined grains with whole grains reduced
their risk of dying over the study period by 8 percent, and people who replaced
one daily serving of red meat with whole grains reduced their risk of dying
over the study period by 20 percent, the researchers also found.
The researchers
accounted for other factors that could have affected the study participants'
risk of dying over the study period, such as age, smoking, body mass index,
exercise and general diet. This was especially important because the men and
women who ate more whole grains also tended to get more exercise, eat other
healthy foods, smoke less and drink less alcohol than people who ate fewer
whole grains.
Read more HERE.
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