In this week’s edition of our “Healthy Monday” column, we are bringing to you an interesting report from the ivy-league university, Harvard, in which the relationship of eating a certain quantity of whole grains, equivalent to a cup of oatmeal was linked to longer life. Irrespective of this study, oatmeal itself is a food that should be included in our daily meals because of its various health benefits for weight loss, good source of antioxidants, high source of soluble dietary fiber & complex carbohydrates, just to mention a few. In a future report, we will be going in-depth into the health benefits of Oatmeal, but meanwhile, read this Harvard University study result!
Researchers from Harvard University, the ivy-league educational institute in a recent study showed that individuals who ate at least 33 grams of whole grains on a daily basis, which is comparable to a small bowl of oatmeal cut their risk of dying immaturely by 9% when compared to their counterparts who hardly ate whole grains.
This conclusion was a result of two large studies performed by the researchers in which over 100,000 people were periodically quizzed on the food they ate in relation to how they lived for more than 14 years. The findings which were published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine also showed that the risk of dying from heart disease was also reduced by 15 percent, however, eating whole grains did not seem to reduce the risk of dying from cancer.
“Whole grains may protect the heart by lowering blood sugar and insulin levels,” said Qi Sun, an assistant professor with the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors. “This type of property could improve insulin resistance to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
Sun further stated that “weight loss and other healthy nutrients may add to the health benefits of whole grains. He also said the studies may not have yielded enough information about cancer to draw any conclusions. Previous studies have demonstrated a lower risk of colorectal cancers with high consumption of foods made from grains where the germ and bran have been left intact.”
However, the study which was more of an observational study as opposed to a controlled trial did not include factors such as genetics, family history,smoking, lifestyle, and other dietary habits. Sun also stated that the result was based on comparison between two extremes – those who ate a lot of whole grains and those who ate none, but it wasn’t much different for those who ate somewhere in between.
However, Sun also explained that eating an additional 28-gram increase in whole grains on a daily basis led to even more protection. “It could be a dose response where you have to eat a certain amount to get the benefits and going above that would be even better,” he said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
