Whole Grain Intake May Decrease Heart Disease Risk

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US and other industrialized countries, so lifestyle changes, including diet, are important. To analyze the link between whole grain intake and coronary heart disease, Chinese researchers combined the results of eighteen different studies following over 400,000 people. The pooled results of their analysis suggest that a higher intake of whole grains is associated with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease. These results were significant in the fifteen cohort studies included (which followed subjects over a period of time to track how diet influenced their health), but not in the three case-control studies (which started with coronary heart disease cases and matched controls, then attempted to trace back the lifestyle differences between these groups). This study adds to the growing body of evidence that whole grains are a heart-healthy choice.
American Journal of Cardiology. 2015 Mar 1;115(5):625-629. (Tang G et al.)