Whole Grains Help in Preventing Type-2 Diabetes

Moneylife Digital Team 15 September 2018

Life

A new study of 55,000 participants over 15 years by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), and the Danish Cancer Society Research Center have found that whole grains can prevent type-2 diabetes. It doesn’t matter if it’s rye, oats, or wheat. As long as it is whole grain, it would be good.

This is a comprehensive study which supports previous studies on the importance of whole grains for prevention of type-2 diabetes, sometimes called adult-onset diabetes. The role of whole grains in preventing type-2 diabetes has been known for some time. The importance of the current study is that it examined the role of a variety of different whole grains.

Most studies on this topic have been done in the US, where the whole grain people mainly use is wheat. Hence, the researchers wanted to see if there was a difference between different grains, said Rikard Landberg, professor in food and health at Chalmers University of Technology. Different grains contain different types of dietary fibre and bioactive substances which are known to influence risk factors for type-2 diabetes.

The study showed that it made no difference which type of whole grain bread the participants ate – rye, oatmeal and muesli,. All seem to offer the same protection against type-2 diabetes. The study was conducted in Denmark.

The participants formed four groups based on how much whole grain they reported eating. Those with the highest consumption ate at least 50gm (grams) each day—roughly a portion of oatmeal porridge and one slice of rye bread.

The group which reported the highest whole grain consumption had the lowest number of cases of type-2 diabetes. In the group with the highest wholegrain intake, diabetes risk was 34% lower for men and 22% lower for women. The disease increased for each group which had eaten less whole grain.

Apart from eating whole grains, drinking coffee, and avoiding red meat are supposed to be other factors that can reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes.

Whole grains are defined as comprising endosperm, germ and bran, three main components of grain kernel. The bran and the germ carry nutritional benefits. If you avoid all cereals (as suggested in a low-carb diet), you lose out on these benefits of whole grain.

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