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Pancreatic Cancer Risk and Whole Grains

Pancreatic cancer is the most fatal cancer in the U.S., but eating two servings or more of whole grains daily may cut the risk of this swift and deadly killer by up to 40%. That was the finding of researchers at UC San Francisco led by June Chan, who compared diets of 532 pancreatic cancer patients with 1,701 people not suffering from the disease.
The American Journal of Epidemiology, November 2007; 166(10):1174-1185

Whole Grain Cereal for Healthier Hearts

After following 21,376 male physicians for almost 20 years, Luc Djoussé and J. Michael Gaziano at Harvard found that those eating two to six servings of whole grain cereal a week reduced their risk of heart failure 22%, while those eating whole grains daily reduced risk by 28%. For this study, cereals with at least 25% whole grain or bran by weight were classified as whole grain.
Archives of Internal Medicine, October 2007; 167: 2080-2085

Limiting Refined Carbs reduces risk of Macular Degeneration

3977 participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study were followed for 8 years by Chung-Jung Chiu and a team at Tufts University, who tracked the glycemic index of their diets and the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The scientists concluded that seniors at risk of AMD may “benefit from consuming a smaller amount of refined carbohydrates.”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2007; vol 86(4):1210-8

Better Health for Nursing Mothers, with Sprouted Brown Rice

Forty-one breast-feeding Japanese mothers were randomly divided into two groups, one eating white rice and the other sprouted brown rice, for two weeks.  When psychological and immune tests were administered to both groups, the sprouted brown rice group was found to have decreased scores of depression, anger-hostility, and fatigue, and a significant increase in s-igA levels, indicating better immune system function.
European Journal of Nutrition, October 2007; 46(7):391-6. Epub 2007 Sep 20.

Sprouted Buckwheat Protects Against Fatty Liver

Fatty liver disease, like alcohol-induced cyrrhosis, can lead to terminal liver failure, and it’s increasing, as it often goes hand in hand with type 2 diabetes. Korean researchers found that buckwheat sprouted for 48 hours developed “potent anti-fatty liver activities” that significantly reduced fatty liver in mice after 8 weeks. Scientists found that sprouting the buckwheat increased the concentration of rutin tenfold, and also increased quercitin, both of which are known for their anti-inflammatory effects.
Phytomedicine, August 2007; 14(7-8):563-7. Epub 2007 Jun 29.

Whole Grains Reduce Hypertension Risk

Researchers at Harvard studied nearly 30,000 enrolled in the Women’s Health Study. Lu Wang’s team found that, over ten years, those who ate the most whole grains had an 11% lower chance of developing high blood pressure.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2007; vol 86(2):472-9

Two Whole Grain Servings Reduce Diabetes Risk

At the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers led by JS de Munter pooled data from six cohort studies including 286,125 participants, and found that a two-servings a day increment in whole grain consumption was associated with a 21% decrease in risk of type 2 diabetes.
PLoS Medicine, August 2007; 28;4(8):e261

Nutrient Changes Noted in Sprouted Wheat

German researchers sprouted wheat kernels for up to 168 hours (1 week), analyzing them at different stages to learn the effects of germination on different nutrient levels. While different times and temperatures produced different effects, overall the sprouting process decreased gluten proteins substantially, while increasing folate. Longer germination times led to a substantial increase of total dietary fiber, with soluble fiber tripling and insoluble fiber decreasing by 50%.
Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, June 13, 2007; 55(12):4678-83. Epub 2007 May 12.

Oats May Improve Insulin Sensitivity

Researchers in Chicago carried out a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial of ninety-seven men and women, in which half of the group consumed foods containing oat beta-glucan, while the other half ate control foods. At the end of the trial period, the oat group showed improvements in insulin sensitivity, while the control group was unchanged.
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2007; 61(6):786-95

Whole Grain and Healthier Carotid Arteries

A study by Philip Mellen at Wake Forest University and colleagues measured atherosclerosis of the common carotid artery, and its progression over five years. Mellen’s team found that, among the 1178 men and women in the study, those who ate more whole grains had less unhealthy artherosclerotic thickening of the common carotid artery.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2007; vol 85(6):1495-1502

Whole Grains Reduce Inflammatory Disease Risk

That habitual whole grain consumption reduces the risk of both cardiovascular disease and diabetes has been well documented. Now, a recent study by the University of Minnesota’s David Jacobs shows that eating whole grains confers an even greater risk-reduction in mortality from inflammatory diseases. Jacobs and his colleagues followed more than 27,000 post-menopausal women for 17 years and concluded that “oxidative stress reduction by constituents of whole grain is a likely mechanism for the protective effect.”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2007; vol 85(6):1606-1614

Rye Down-Regulates Some Risky Genes

For decades it was believed that genes determined destiny: if you’ve inherited genes that predispose you to heart disease, for example, you will develop cardiovascular disease. More recently, we’ve learned that genes have on/off switches: the potential may be there for your heart attack, but your diet and lifestyle may help you keep that switch turned off, by “down-regulating” the gene. Scientists at the University of Kuopio studied gene expression in 47 middle-aged adults who ate either an oat/wheat bread/potato diet or a rye/pasta diet for 12 weeks. They found 71 down-regulated genes with the rye/pasta group, including some involved with impaired insulin signaling, in contrast to 62 up-regulated genes in the oat/wheat/potato group, including genes that related to stress and over-action of the immune system, even in the absence of weight loss.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. May 2007; 85(5): 1169-70.

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