How often do you eat wholegrain? if the answer to that is rarely, then you might want to make some changes, as a new study has found that enjoying them regularly could be key to avoiding type 2 diabetes.
Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the Danish Cancer Society Research Center teamed up to study the effects of wholegrains on the health of 55,000 people living in Denmark over 15 years. Their results showed that those who ate the most wholegrain – at least 50g per day – had the lowest chance of going on to develop Type 2 diabetes, with a 22% lower possibility than those who didn’t.
For those who don’t know, wholegrain can be found in foods such as rye, oats, and wheat which are often consumed through rye bread, oatmeal and muesli. To hit the 50g, you could for example eat one portion of porridge and a slice of rye bread per day. If you opt for foods such as wholegrain bread and pasta, however, this may be slightly different as the amount of wholegrain found in these depend on the individual product.
Additonally, the amount of wholegrain consumed changes from country to country. According to lead researcher Rikard Landberg, Professor in Food and Health at Chalmers University of Technology, people in the US who eat the most wholegrain would be the same level as the group that ate the least wholegrain in Denmark. Similarly, this could be the case for Brits, who have been found to eat less wholegrain than those in Denmark.
One of the reasons for this is that foods that are rich in wholegrain (rye bread, oatmeal etc) are very common in Denmark. In fact, the Danish traditional cuisine Smørrebrød consists of a piece of buttered rye bread with varied toppings.
‘When it comes to wholegrains, the research results are clear: among the many studies which have been made, in varied groups of people around the world, there hasn’t been a single study which has shown negative health effects,’ says Landberg.
Rye bread, anyone?
