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Whole Grains Linked with Less Inflammation and Slower Cognitive Decline in Aging

A “grain brain” seems to be a healthy defense against inflammation and accelerated cognitive decline. In a British study, researchers analyzed the diets, inflammation markers, and cognitive health of over 5,000 middle aged adults over six years. The scientists found that those eating diets high in red and processed meat, peas, legumes (mostly baked beans) and fried food, and lower in whole grains, were more likely to have higher levels of inflammation and accelerated cognitive decline. In fact, whole grains had the strongest link to anti-inflammatory markers among all 37 food groups studied.
Clinical Nutrition. 2016 Jan 29. Pii: S0261-5614(16)00035-2. (Ozawa M et al.)

Whole Grains for Breakfast Linked with Higher Test Scores in Elementary Students

Whole grains are a classic centerpiece to the morning meal for many families, but students may especially benefit from this practice. Researchers collected data from nearly 700 elementary school students in Kansas (average age = 7.5) to see how eating breakfast relates to standardized test scores. They found that while breakfast eaters scored significantly higher in all test areas, what the students ate made a big difference. Greater servings of whole grains were significantly related to higher scores in reading comprehension and fluency and math, while fruit juice was significantly correlated with lower math and reading comprehension and fluency scores.  
Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2015 Dec 23:1-8 [Epub ahead of print] (Ptomey LT et al.)

Carbs (Like Whole Grains) Vital to Early Human Brains

Whole grains are important to our brain health today, but new evidence suggests that they were also vital to our brain development millions of years ago. Researchers in Europe and Australia examined diet’s role in the development of early humans, and found that carbohydrates (such as whole grains, root vegetables, and other starchy plant foods) were “necessary to accommodate the increased metabolic demands of a growing brain.” While most depictions of early human foods emphasize hunter-gatherer diets full of meat, the scientists argue that cooked starches permitted “the acceleration in brain size increase from the Middle Pleistocene onward.”
The Quarterly Review of Biology. 2015 Sept;90(3):251-268. (Hardy K et al.)

Diet with Whole Grains May Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk

It appears that a ‘grain brain’ may be protective against Alzheimer’s. Researchers studied the relationship between eating patterns and Alzheimer’s in 923 retired adults in Chicago over an average of 4.5 years.  The scientists rated participants’ diets based on how closely they adhered to the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet (a healthy diet used to treat hypertension that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy, and limited sweets and salt) and the MIND diet. The MIND diet is a hybrid Mediterranean-DASH diet that emphasizes foods associated with brain health, including 3 servings per day of whole grains (more than any other food group), along with green leafy vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, and fish. The groups most closely following either the MIND diet or the Mediterranean diet cut their risk of Alzheimer’s dementia by more than half (53% for MIND and 54% for Mediterranean), while those closely following the DASH diet were 39% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Even those moderately following the MIND diet were at a 35% lower risk.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia. 2015 Feb 11. pii: S1552-5260(15)00017-5. [Epub ahead of print] (Morris MC et al.)

Whole Grains, Nuts, Legumes Protect Cognitive Function

Scientists at Utah State University and Duke University assessed the cognitive function of 3831 men and women 65 or older over an 11-year period, and compared their cognitive abilities with their diet makeup. They found that higher adherence to both the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet corresponded with higher cognitive abilities, and that “whole grains and nuts and legumes were positively associated with higher cognitive functions and may be core neuroprotective foods common to various healthy plant-centered diets around the globe.”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013 Nov; 98(5):1263-71. (Wengreen et al.)

Whole Grains Linked with Better Cognitive Function

Researchers analyzed the food intake and cognitive function in a group of 3,831 older adults in Utah over 11 years. Those most closely following a DASH diet (a healthy diet used to treat hypertension that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy, and limited sweets and salt) or Mediterranean diet at the start of the study were found to have consistently better cognitive function than those not following those diets. In particular, whole grains, nuts, and legumes were all linked with better cognitive function, and the researchers concluded that these “may be core neuroprotective foods common to various healthy plant-centered diets around the globe.”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013 Nov;98(5):1263-71. (Wengreen H et al.)

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