Most adults in the United States do not consume the recommended amount of whole grains per day.
This is despite the fact that the American Heart Association (AHA) encourages eating at least 3 fiber-rich servings of whole grains per day.
Now, research published in the European Heart Journal suggests that 4 to 6 servings of whole grains per day could help lower certain risk factors for heart disease.
In a press release, research author Helda Tutunchi, PhD, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, explained:
“This is the largest and most comprehensive meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials on wholegrain intake and cardiovascular risk factors. Unlike previous reviews, we looked specifically at how much wholegrain people need to eat to get the greatest benefits.”
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The research authors also examined potential improvements in areas such as total cholesterol, body weight, and waist circumference.
The researchers found that high-certainty evidence that whole grain consumption was associated with reductions in:
For the meta-analysis, researchers examined previous trials, including over 6,500 participants.
Among these trials, they also found moderate-certainty evidence that whole grain consumption was associated with improvements in:
In particular, the researchers found that consuming around 60 to 100 grams (g) (dry weight) of whole grains per day was related to cardiometabolic improvements. This is the same as around 4 to 6 servings of whole grains daily.
Joseph You, MD, cardiologist with Manhattan Cardiology in NYC and contributor to LabFinder, spoke with Medical News Today about these findings.
“[This meta-analysis] shows that there is a correlation between whole grain consumption, possibly dose-dependent, in reducing body weight, waist circumference, total cholesterol and IL-6, which is a marker of inflammation,” explained You, who was not involved in the research.
“Having whole grains incorporated into a diet may reflect an overall healthier and balanced lifestyle. As previous studies have mentioned, it can be due to colonic benefits [and] transit time, as well as potentially microscopic interactions,” he added.
Tutunchi said in the press release that the “findings provide a practical indication of the amount of wholegrain that may be needed to achieve meaningful improvements in cardiovascular risk factors.”
“We found that most benefits occur at intakes of approximately 60 to 100 grams per day, toward the upper end of current dietary recommendations,” she continued.
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She added that these findings “do not necessarily call for major changes to existing guidelines, but they support public health strategies that help people increase their whole-grain intake and move toward the higher end of current targets.”
Some of the trials that the researchers studied involved, among other things, replacing refined grains with whole grains. The researchers note that the benefits were “differential effects,” meaning they occurred as a result of replacing one type of grain with the other.
According to You, “there can be clear health care benefits with integrating whole grains into diets, especially when compared to foods that are processed and contain high levels of saturated fat and processed sugars.”
“However, it is difficult to compare head to head whole grains and refined grains to definitively say that one diet will have better health outcomes,” he added.
You also offered some suggestions on incorporating whole grains into a the diet or increase the existing intake.
“I think this is where having a nutritionist is an excellent resource,” he told us. “Each patient is unique and each diet should be tailored to both their eating habits, lifestyle, importantly allergies, i.e. gluten or celiac disease.”
You added that “4 to 6 servings can be achievable, but the most important part is balancing a diet and not focusing primarily on one food group.”
In the press release, Tutunchi suggested that “[i]ncreasing wholegrain intake is a relatively simple, accessible and affordable dietary strategy that can complement other lifestyle and medical interventions.”
The Whole Grains Council recommends the following sources for increasing whole grains with a variety of foods:
The researchers address the median trial duration of 8 weeks as a possible limitation.
In the press release, Tutunchi explained that, due to the median trial duration, “we cannot determine whether these benefits are maintained over the long term.”
“In addition, relatively few studies evaluated very high wholegrain intakes, above 140 grams per day, so the effects at those intake levels remain uncertain,” she noted.
Speaking with MNT, You said that “a longer duration and follow up would add more weight to the correlations, especially if they want to take into consideration long term cardiovascular outcomes.”
He added: “Furthermore, weight loss and waist circumference measurements are a dynamic change. [They] can go down depending on multiple factors, and clearly diet is a major part of it.”
