Advertisement

Don't Ditch The Grains: A Bowl A Day Keeps Diabetes At Bay

Low-carb dieters, quinoa dodgers and cave man fans be warned - grains have a vital place in our diets

With all the anti-carb feeling in the health food camp right now, it's easy to forget how important grains and cereals are in our diets.

And now experts have found that a bowl of grains a day can help prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes, among other chronic health complaints.

Oats make the perfect breakfast grain (REX)
Oats make the perfect breakfast grain (REX)

But hold your horses, that doesn't mean you can start snaffling down a bowl of Frosties for breakfast every day again under the guise of a healthy bowl of cereal. The 'right' grains are those much-touted wholegrains, such as oats, quinoa and brown wheat-based grains including (brown) bread.

The new research has shown that good quality, wholegrains keep the body healthy by feeding it essential dietary fibre, minerals and antioxidants.

Researchers looked at more than 367,000 people across America over a 14 year period, measuring their diet and their general health.

They found that the risk of premature death decreased by 17 per cent for individuals who ate around 34 grams of whole grains per 1000 calories a day.

Study leader Dr Lu Qi said: "Our study indicates that intake of whole grains and cereal fibre may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and death from chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory disease.

“Our findings should motivate future studies especially clinical trials and experimental studies to further testify the beneficial effects of whole grains and potential effective components such as fibre and other nutrients, and explore mechanisms."

Quinoa-lovers will be delighted, as it's just the right kind of grain to show the benefits, but wholegrain wheat cereals, porridge oats and even brown bread and pasta offer the benefits too.

Quinoa - everyone's fave... (VideoJug)
Quinoa - everyone's fave... (VideoJug)

It could be something to seriously think about if you are on a low-carb diet, as some of the first foods to go are bread, pasta and breakfast cereals. But the difference between refined carbs (white bread, pasta and rice, for example) and wholegrain carbs is huge.

Wholegrains are unrefined and contain the bran and the germ, which takes the body longer to digest and provides more nutrients. White grains are rapidly digested, meaning when they're eaten we get a blood sugar spike that gives us easy-access energy, which most of us don't use and is then stored as fat.

Atkins, Dukan and Paleo/Cave Man-based diets are all low in grains and shouldn't be used longterm without medical advice because of the essential nutriets and fibre we get from grains.

The best diet is a balance - lots of veg, lean meat, good fats, whole grains and limited processed foods, red meat and dairy.

You know what they'll say - a bowl of quinoa a day...

[The Best And Worst Diets Ranked By Experts]
[Health Teas: What To Drink And Why And When]