Whole Grains Cut Risk of Heart Failure, Research Says

In a study reported by Jennifer Warner "Whole Grains Cut Heart Failure Risk" at WebMD researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts and Brigham and Women's Hospital also in Boston determined that eating more whole grain cereal for breakfast may in fact lower the risk of heart failure. Other illnesses such as hypertension seemed to be positively affected by eating whole grain food.

This study was originally published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Oct. 22, 2007; vol 167: pp 208-2085 Luc Djouss. Over 21,000 men with an average age of almost 54 years old were watched. The amount of cereal and problems with their heart were tracked for over 19 years.

Researches found that a little more than 1,000 men had heart failure, including 362 of 6,995 men didn't eat any cereal; 237 of almost 5,000 who ate one serving or less per week; 230 of 5,227 who ate two to six servings per week; and 189 of 4,167 who ate seven servings or more per week.

You can clearly see that the numbers of men who had heart failure went down the more whole grain cereal they ate.

Although there are studies that many of us believe to be valid which link a whole grain diet to better health the researchers at Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospitals report that this is the first study that compared eating breakfast cereal with the risk of heart failure in a large group.

In March 2006 Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach speaking at the Food Safety World Conference and Expo as reported by the Food and Drug Administration
has been looking at whole grains for awhile. Dr. Eschenbach, in his talk on Recent Agency Actions at the Expo, explained that the FDA has let manufacturers know what they consider to be true advertising when it comes to labeling products whole grain. The FDA says that whole grains are cereal grains. What makes them different is that "they consist of the intact, ground, cracked or flaked fruit of the grains." Food and Drug Administration

Grains such as bulgar, corn, rye, oats, buckwheat, barley and millet all fall under the good grain category.