Whole Grain Cereals Reduce Heart Failure Risk

The results of a new study indicate a whole grain cereal diet, in the long run, reduces the risk of cardiac problems in men. According to the study, a breakfast of whole grain cereals can, over a period of time, work to ensure reduced risk of heart problems for men, specifically, heart failure.

Researchers undertaking the study also indicated that one out of every five 40-year old man or woman was likely to suffer from heart failure today. The term heart failure is used to describe a condition where the heart is not able to pump blood as well as it should.

There have been other studies in the past involving whole grain cereals, and each of these studies have been able to determine benefits arising out of consuming a diet of whole grains, for instance a diet of non refined cereals for breakfast.

However, this is the first study that has been able to look at and establish a relationship between heart failure and whole grain cereal consumption for breakfast. What makes the study more plausible is that it has been conducted not on isolated individuals or small groups of people, but on a big group of subjects.

21,000 subjects took part in the study, the Physicians Health Study I. It made comparisons between the risk of heart failure and the cereals being consumed for breakfast in all these subjects. The results of the study have been posted in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers collected data related to the diet regimen of the subjects during the entire course of the study. They also kept thorough and careful tabs on the health of the subjects during the period the study was conducted. The researchers followed up the health condition of the subjects over a period of 19 years. During this period, they were able to detect 1,018 cases of heart failure.

The results were startling. The study showed that subjects who ate cereal for breakfast seven days a week had a 29 percent lower chance of suffering from heart failure than those subjects who never had whole grain. Further analysis showed that the reduced risk was only in the case of those subjects who ate whole grain cereal. So what exactly is the link between whole grain cereals and reduced heart risk failure?

Researchers such as Luc Djoussé from the Harvard Medical School and also his colleagues feel the positive impact that whole grain cereals have on factors contributing to heart failure, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and the danger of suffering from heart attacks could be a very strong cause for the ability of whole grain cereals to reduce the risk of heart failure.

However, one single study cannot be used as the basis for asking the people to adopt whole grain cereal as the breakfast food. That can happen only after more studies are conducted to explore and are able to confirm this possibility.