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Magnesium May Explain Diabetes Benefits of Whole Wheat

It’s thought that foods with a lower glycemic index may improve insulin sensitivity. Yet whole wheat bread, with a glycemic index almost identical to bread made with refined wheat, has been found to promote insulin sensitivity when compared to the “white bread.” Researchers at Pantox Laboratories in San Diego, California, hypothesize that magnesium may be responsible, and urged “the strong desirability of choosing whole grain products in preference to refined grains.”
Medical Hypotheses, 2005; 64(3): 619-27

Advantages of Sorghum over Maize in South African Diets

Sorghum has been widely consumed as a staple food and in beverages throughout Africa. More recently, corn has replaced sorghum in some areas. Researchers from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in South Africa believe that “the change of the staple diet of Black South Africans from sorghum to maize (corn) is the cause of the epidemic of squamous carcinoma of the esophagus.” They link the cancers to Fusarium fungi that grow freely on maize but are far less common on sorghum and note that “countries in Africa, in which the staple food is sorghum, have a low incidence of squamous carcinoma of the esophagus.”
Medical Hypotheses. 2005;64(3):658-60

Whole Grains Help Your Heart

Yet another study documents the relationship between whole grain consumption and heart health. Dr. Majken Jensen and fellow professionals at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed diet and health records of over 27,000 men aged 40-75, over a period of 14 years, and found that those with the highest whole grain intake (about 40g per day) cut heart disease risk by almost 20% – but even those eating just 25g cut their CHD risk by 15%.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2004; vol 80(6):1492-1499

Barley Significantly Improves Lipids

25 adults with mildly high cholesterol were fed whole grain foods containing 0g, 3g or 6g of barley beta-glucan per day for five weeks, with blood samples taken twice weekly. Total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol significantly decreased with the addition of barley to the diet.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2004; 80(5):1185-93

Whole Grains High In Antioxidants

Dr. Rui Hai Liu of Cornell and his colleagues discovered that whole grains contain protective antioxidants in quantities rivalling or exceeding those in fruits and vegetables. Corn, for instance, has almost twice the antioxidant activity of apples, while wheat and oats almost equal broccoli and spinach in antioxidant activity.
American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) International Conference on Food, Nutrition and Cancer, November 2004

Whole Grains Help You Weigh Less

A team led by Dr. Pauline Koh-Banerjee studied diet and health records of 72,000 men and found that those who ate 40 grams of whole grains per day cut middle-age weight gain by up to 3.5 pounds. Just one cup of cooked oatmeal or two slices of whole-wheat bread would provide this amount of whole grain.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2004; vol 80(5):1237-45

Better Lipid Effects from Quinoa

At the University of Milan, researchers compared the digestibility of various gluten-free foods in the lab (in vitro) and then with a group of healthy volunteers (in vivo). Their goal was to gauge the effect of the different foods on postprandial glucose and insulin response, as well as to measure triglycerides and free fatty acids after eating.  Quinoa stood out in the study, for producing lower free fatty acid levels and triglyceride concentrations than other GF pastas and breads studied.
European Journal of Nutrition, August 2004; 43 (4):198-204. Epub 2004 Jan 6.

Antioxidants in Sorghum High Relative to other Grains and to Fruits

Joseph Awika and Lloyd Rooney, at Texas A&M University, conducted an extensive review of scores of studies involving sorghum, and concluded that the phytochemicals in sorghum “have potential to signiciantly impact human health.”  In particular, they cited evidence that sorghum may reduce the risk of certain cancers and promote cardiovascular health. Click here to download the full paper.
Phytochemistry. 2004 May;65(9):1199-221

Whole Grains Cut Heart Disease Risk

Researchers led by Dr. Mark Pereira collected data on 91,058 men and 245,186 women who participated in 10 studies in the US and Europe. After 6-10 years of followup, the research showed that, for each 10 grams of fiber consumed per day, there was a 14% reduction in heart disease risk and a 25% reduction in risk of dying from heart disease. In short, the cereal fiber in whole grains appears to make heart disease much less likely—and less serious if it does occur.
Archives of Internal Medicine, February 2004; vol 164:370-376

Whole Grains Reduce Diabetes Risk

Dr. Nicola McKeown and fellow researchers at Tufts University found that people who eat three or more servings of whole grains a day, especially from high-fiber cereals, are less likely to develop insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, common precursors of both Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Diabetes Care, February 2004; vol 27:538-546

Whole Grains Lessen Rectal Cancer Risk

At the University of Utah, a team led by Dr. Martha Slattery found that high intakes of vegetables, fruits and whole grains reduced the risk of rectal cancer by 28%, 27% and 31% respectively. A high-fiber diet (more than 34 grams of fiber per day) reduced rectal cancer by an impressive 66%, in this study of over 2000 people.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, February 2004; 79(2):274-281

Whole Grains Lower Obesity Risk

As part of the well-known Nurses’ Study, Simin Liu and fellow researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health followed over 74,000 women from 1984-1996, and concluded that women who consumed more whole grains consistently weighed less than women who consumed less whole grains.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2003; vol 78(5):920-927

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