Eat Your Wheaties and Live Longer?

If you ever had doubts that whole grains were an important feature of a healthy diet, a publication in the Archives of Internal Medicine should dispel them. Harvard scientists used data from 21,000 of the participants in the Physicians’ Health Study. The study examined the frequency of heart failure in men over a 19-year period in association with their intake of whole-grain cereals.

There were over 1,000 cases of heart failure in this time. Some men in the study ate no cereal, others ate one serving or less weekly, others who ate 2-6 servings a week, and others who ate 7 or more servings a week. Using those who ate no cereals at all as the “reference” group (given a 100% risk), the researchers found that the risk was reduced to 92% of the reference for those eating one or fewer servings, 79% for those eating 2-6 servings, and 71% for those eating 7 or more servings, weekly. These risk levels were calculated after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol intake, multivitamin use, physical activity level, and history of cardiovascular disease.

The next analysis examined the two main types of cereal. Whole-grain cereals, such as shredded wheat, bran cereal, or oatmeal, included 25% of their weight as whole grain parts (kernel, endosperm, and germ). Refined cereals, such as cornflakes, contained little or no grain – and that was chiefly endosperm. When the results of the study were further analyzed, there was a significant association between risk-reduction for heart failure and whole-grain cereals, but not for refined cereals. If you’re not convinced now, you never will be . . .