The study, which was carried out by researchers at the Harvard Medical School and is now available in the journal BMC Medicine, shows that regularly consuming whole grains can reduce the risk of death from a variety of causes, such as cancer and diabetes. In fact, the study showed that, in these two areas, eating whole grains reduced the risk of death by an incredible 20-percent.
If you’re not familiar with them, whole grains are grains consumed in their most natural form, which means they still contain the plant’s brain and germ. These very healthy components are often removed when grains go through processing and become refined. Once that process is complete, foods lose much of their vitamins, fiber, and iron.
This is quite possibly the most advanced study of its kind. Harvard researchers tracked more than 367,000 people over a period of fourteen years. Only healthy people were included in the study, which found that people who ate 1.2 ounces of whole grains each day (on average) had a 17-percent reduced risk of death compared to people who ate fewer whole grains each day.
The study showed that regularly consuming whole grains was particularly effective in reducing the risk of dying from diabetes. Specifically, people who regularly ate these foods had a 48-percent reduced risk of death from diabetes.
