Health Studies

Eating whole grains or legumes at one meal not only reduces surges in glucose after that meal, but also after the next meal eaten. Eating whole grains or legumes at breakfast helps control blood sugar after lunch, for example, and eating either or both at dinner can reduce the blood sugar rise of the next morning’s breakfast. Since this effect may explain why eating whole grains and legumes can reduce diabetes risk, this paper describes the possible mechanisms of the subsequent meal effect.
Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2012; 2012:829238. [Epub Oct. 30 2011] (Higgins)

Researchers at Imperial College London conducted a meta-analysis of 25 studies involving almost two million people (and 14,500 cases of colorectal cancer) to assess the links between colorectal cancer and both whole grains and total dietary fiber. They concluded that there is a credible “dose-response” relationship between whole grain consumption and reduced cancer risk; they estimate that eating three or more servings of whole grains per day lowers colorectal cancer risk nearly 20%. Dietary fiber also reduces this risk, but cereal/grain fiber shows stronger benefits than other types of fiber.
British Medical Journal, 10 November 2011; 343:d6617 (Aune et al.)

Twenty-four healthy subjects in Sweden were randomly assigned to eat either a breakfast of rye porridge or the same amount of calories in the form of refined wheat bread for three weeks. After a wash-out period of 3-4 weeks, they switched to the other breakfast choice. At three points during each three-week diet, researchers recorded appetite ratings (hunger, satiety, and desire to eat) for 24 hours. They found that the whole grain rye porridge resulted in higher satiety, less hunger, and less desire to eat for four hours after breakfast, but that the differences did not extend into the afternoon. The satiety effect persisted throughout the three weeks of the diet.
Physiology & Behavior, 28 October 2011 [Epub ahead of print] (Isaksson et al.)

Recent research has shown that children’s acceptance of whole grains varies widely from food to food. Kids will happily consume some foods that are 100% whole grain, while turning down others in which only 10-15% of the grain is whole grain. Using this knowledge, it’s possible to design a roadmap for increasing kids’ consumption of whole grains, without risking “pushback” – an important consideration, since the only healthy nutrients are those that are actually consumed. In this study, Len Marquart, Elizabeth Arndt, and colleagues modeled the change in whole grain consumption that could be achieved by switching 15% to 50% of the refined grain to whole grain in breads, pizza crusts, pasta, breakfast cereals, muffins, waffles and other foods kids eat daily. They found that, without changing documented eating patterns in the children, they could raise consumption of whole grains from 6% of total grains to 28% of whole grains with this approach, while also reducing demographic disparities.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association. September 2011; 111(9):1322-8

Documenting the benefits of whole grains often depends on asking people to recall how often they eat whole grain foods, a process subject to less-than-precise memories and lack of understanding of just what constitutes a whole grain food. Now scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden have provided further evidence that blood levels of alkylresorcinols – a type of fat found in the bran of rye and wheat but in few other foods — can serve as more objective evidence of regular consumption of wheat and rye.  The researchers asked 72 adults to keep detailed, weighed records of everything they ate for 3 days, on two separate occasions, then tested the levels of alkylresorcinols in their blood. They found a very reliable relationship between the foods eaten and the blood levels measured.
The Journal of Nutrition, September 1, 2011. [Epub ahead of print July 2011]