Choose whole grains and live longer

From M, spring 2003

When it comes to eating well to prevent disease, University of Minnesota research has been leading the way for decades. Lately, advice from U researchers to eat more whole grains (along with more fruits and vegetables) is getting a lot of attention.

Whole grains--meaning the entire kernel--are packed with good things that work in combination with each other, like vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, says professor of nutrition Joanne Slavin. They keep blood sugar and insulin under control, move carcinogens through our intestines faster, and lower our cancer and heart disease rate. Eating only parts of the kernel, as we do when we eat white bread, for example, doesn't give us the disease protection we need.

David Jacobs, professor in the School of Public Health, has been following 34,000 Iowa women in a study since 1986, when they were between the ages of 55 and 69. He and his colleagues found that those who habitually ate whole-grain foods had a significantly lower death rate from all causes when compared with women who ate almost no whole grains. And in taking other studies into consideration, Jacobs says the premature death rate is 15 to 25 percent lower in people who regularly eat whole grains compared to those who eat mostly refined grains.

Instead of recommending sizes and numbers of daily servings for whole grains, Jacobs goes for the common-sense approach: Eat whole grains as often as you can and choose them over refined grains; buy bread with rolled oats, cracked wheat, or steel-cut oats or wheat as the first ingredient; opt for oatmeal and brown rice; or expand your eating and cooking horizons with quinoa and millet.