TY - JOUR
T1 - Whole-grain foods and chronic disease
T2 - Evidence from epidemiological and intervention studies
AU - Seal, Chris J.
AU - Brownlee, Iain A.
N1 - Paper originally presented at The Nutrition Society Summer Meeting 2014, University of Glasgow, 14–17 July 2014 - Symposium 4: Whole grains, dietary fibre and grain-derived phytochemicals.
PY - 2015/8/21
Y1 - 2015/8/21
N2 - Cereal-based foods are key components of the diet and they dominate most food-based dietary recommendations in order to achieve targets for intake of carbohydrate, protein and dietary fibre. Processing (milling) of grains to produce refined grain products removes key nutrients and phytochemicals from the flour and although in some countries nutrients may be replaced with mandatory fortification, overall this refinement reduces their potential nutritional quality. There is increasing evidence from both observational and intervention studies that increased intake of less-refined, whole-grain (WG) foods has positive health benefits. The highest WG consumers are consistently shown to have lower risk of developing CVD, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. WG consumers may also have better digestive health and are likely to have lower BMI and gain less weight over time. The bulk of the evidence for the benefits of WG comes from observational studies, but evidence of benefit in intervention studies and potential mechanisms of action is increasing. Overall this evidence supports the promotion of WG foods over refined grain foods in the diet, but this would require adoption of standard definitions of 'whole grain' and 'whole-grain foods' which will enable innovation by food manufacturers, provide clarity for the consumer and encourage the implementation of food-based dietary recommendations and public health strategies.
AB - Cereal-based foods are key components of the diet and they dominate most food-based dietary recommendations in order to achieve targets for intake of carbohydrate, protein and dietary fibre. Processing (milling) of grains to produce refined grain products removes key nutrients and phytochemicals from the flour and although in some countries nutrients may be replaced with mandatory fortification, overall this refinement reduces their potential nutritional quality. There is increasing evidence from both observational and intervention studies that increased intake of less-refined, whole-grain (WG) foods has positive health benefits. The highest WG consumers are consistently shown to have lower risk of developing CVD, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. WG consumers may also have better digestive health and are likely to have lower BMI and gain less weight over time. The bulk of the evidence for the benefits of WG comes from observational studies, but evidence of benefit in intervention studies and potential mechanisms of action is increasing. Overall this evidence supports the promotion of WG foods over refined grain foods in the diet, but this would require adoption of standard definitions of 'whole grain' and 'whole-grain foods' which will enable innovation by food manufacturers, provide clarity for the consumer and encourage the implementation of food-based dietary recommendations and public health strategies.
KW - Cancer risk
KW - Cardiovascular health
KW - Evidence-based nutrition
KW - Type 2 diabetes
KW - Whole grain
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937639110&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0029665115002104
DO - 10.1017/S0029665115002104
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26062574
AN - SCOPUS:84937639110
SN - 0029-6651
VL - 74
SP - 313
EP - 319
JO - Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
JF - Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
IS - 3
ER -