Chronic diseases affect older adults more than any other population group. Diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease are miserable because they not only diminish the quality of life, they are also associated with disabilities and increased health care costs. Not fun and not productive.
I’ve probably written this 6 times in the last months but research shows that although the risk of disease and disability clearly increases as we age, poor health is not an inevitable consequence of aging. The truth is much of the illness, disability and even death associated with chronic disease can be avoided by taking prevention approaches for a healthy lifestyle.
One approach that can be taken as prevention is to eat more whole grains!
That’s the conclusion of a recent research project at Penn State at University Park reports that diets containing high amounts of whole grains help with weight loss, and also may reduce the risk of chronic disease such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Fifty men and women, all with metabolic syndrome –a combination of symptoms that increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes – were placed in a group that received all its dietary grain servings from whole wheat or to another group that included refined grains. Over a 12 week period both groups received advice on weight loss and were encouraged to become physically active.
Everyone lost an average of 8-12 pounds, but the whole grain group lost a greater amount in the abdominal region than the refined grain group. The whole grain group also experienced a 38 percent decrease in C-reative protein levels in their blood. A high level of this inflammatory maker is thought to place patients at a higher risk for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Typically weight losses are associated with a decrease in C-reactive protein, but the refined grain group didn’t show a decrease. The assumption is that the eating so many refined grains negated the beneficial effect of weight loss on C-reactive protein levels.
"There are a lot of foods around that claim they contain whole grain but are not really major sources of whole grain," says Penny Kris-Etherton, co-author of the research. She recommends foods where at least 51 percent of the grain comes from the whole grain. This includes oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, pop corn and whole wheat crackers.
This means more label reading for me. I bet I’m using products that don’t show enough whole grains.
Sources: Penn State Press Release from Information office; Duke Medicine, May 2008
To your successful aging,
Ruthan Brodsky
Business writer and Communications Marketing
For Health Care Professionals
