Want to live a longer life? The key may be giving up a low-carb diet, say researchers.
A new study reported in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine reports that people whose diets were rich in whole grains, including oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and popcorn lived longer lives than those who didn’t.
It even decreased their risk of death from cardiovascular disease–a problem continuing to rise among older Americans.
“I think it’s quite conclusive that if you eat whole grains, you almost always benefit,” says Dr. Qi Sun, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If you are really looking into whole-grain consumption with other diseases, stroke, heart disease and colorectal cancer, whole grains are consistently associated with [a] lower risk of those diseases.”
Sun, who led the research, examined two studies which examined both women and men who had reported their whole grain intake on previous food surveys. For this study specifically, Sun examined two large-scale studies, called the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up study, which included a total of 118,000 participants.
After looking at how many participants ate whole grains on a regular basis, Sun then looked at how many people died during these studies, which eventually included 26,920 people.
From there, Sun looked at how many of them had either ate a low or high amount of whole grains, and found something interesting: Those who ate at least 28 grams of whole grains a day actually lived 5 percent longer. In addition, they had a 9 percent reduced risk of dying from any cardiovascular problem.
Sun also found that people who ate more bran, or the skin covering the a whole grain kernel, reduced a person’s mortality risk the most.
“It’s showed, as quite a few other studies have shown in several other settings, that the consumption of whole-grain foods is associated with reduced total mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease, but not particularly strongly with mortality from cancer,” says David Jacobs, a University of Minnesota professor of epidemiology who was not involved in the study. “It’s a very difficult thing in nutritional epidemiology to separate things like that out and to make particular statements about foods or parts of foods.”
What These Results Mean For You
There’s no debate about it: Whole grains are good for you. Now new research shows another reason why it needs to be in your diet–it could reduce your risk of dying from any cause by 5 percent.
In addition, eating more bran could help reduce your risk even more, which researchers attribute to its high levels of “antioxidants, B vitamins and fiber.”
So if you haven’t already, fill up. It’s good for you!
Readers: How often do you eat whole grains?
Sources:
Eating Whole Grains May Help You Live Longer, Study Finds – FoxNews.com
Health Gains From Whole Grains – Harvard.edu
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