Whole grains, three servings a day to keep the heart healthy

Who consumes routinely whole grains (for example, three servings a day every day) have a significant cardiovascular advantage over those who do not, or do much less (half a serving per day): waist circumference, fats and sugars in the blood and pressure are better and are maintained better over time. This is the result of a research published on Journal of Nutrition, which lasted many years, which examined the habits and lifestyles of the children of what was the first generation of the cohort of Framingham, the New England town taken as a sample in a large population study focusing on cardiovascular health. Started in the seventies, the study continues to provide very interesting results because they were obtained in a completely real context, prolonged over time and very controlled.

In this case 3,100 children of the first participants were observed, now with an average age of 55, for a total of never less than 18 years, and checked every four years from a medical point of view. Researchers from Tufts University in Boston analyzed their diets and divided them into four categories based on the amount of whole grains and flours consumed (from less than half a serving to three or more servings per day – the recommended dose by the Food Guidelines. for Americans 2020-2025), considering a serving such as a slice of bread, a bowl of breakfast cereal or a plate of brown rice.

So they have verified what influence this habit had on five classic parameters: waist circumference, blood sugar, blood pressure, triglycerides and HDL (the so-called good cholesterol). They thus saw that, in the period analyzed, the waist circumference had increased by 3 cm in those who preferred refined cereals, against the centimeter and a half recorded in those who preferred wholemeal ones. The other parameters were also better in those who regularly ate three servings or more of whole grains, compared to those who never or almost never ate.

According to the authors, the habit of consuming whole grains brings benefits that, with advancing age, go beyond the more obvious one of limiting weight gain, because they substantially contribute to keeping fats, sugars and blood pressure under control, and therefore have a protective effect on the heart and blood vessels. This could be due to the fact that, in addition to satiating more, they contain precious elements such as vitamin B, magnesium, potassium, antioxidants and fiber which, especially when soluble, help to avoid glycemic spikes after meals.

Among whole foods favorites emerged from bread and breakfast cereals. Refined grains – of which the average American consumes five servings each day (an amount well above the recommended amount) – came, in the Framingham cohort, from white bread and pasta. This means – the researchers concluded – that small dietary changes such as replacing white bread with wholemeal bread, in addition to being necessary, are also easy to implement. And they can play an important role in reducing cardiovascular risk.

© All rights reserved Photo: stock.adobe.com, Fotolia.com

science journalist