Men who eat whole grain and bran may increase their chances of fighting off hypertension, according to a new study in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Men who eat whole grain and bran may increase their chances of fighting off hypertension, according to a new study in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
As part of the study, "Whole grains and incident hypertension in men," lead researcher Alan Flint, studied data on 31 684 men who participated in the health professionals follow-up study.
When the study commenced in 1986, none of the men had hypertension (high blood pressure), cancer, stroke or coronary heart disease. But during the 18 years of follow-up until 2004, researchers found a total of 9 227 cases of hypertension.
Men who ate the highest amount of whole grain (approximately 46g per day) were deemed to be 19% less likely to develop high blood pressure compared with the men who consumed the lowest amount (3.3 grams per day).
Meanwhile, the men with the highest bran intake (12 grams per day) were found to be 15% less likely to develop high blood pressure compared with those with the lowest bran intake (0.3 grams per day).
The reasons for wholegrain’s influence on hypertension are wide ranging, the researchers noted, including its ability to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce food intake and lower blood glucose.
"There is a growing body of evidence from both observational epidemiologic studies and randomised clinical trials that diet influences blood pressure, particularly intakes of potassium and fibre, both of which are constituent compounds of whole grains."
Dietitian Priya Seetal recommends including the following foods in your diet to increase your whole grain and bran intake: Brown rice; popcorn; 100% rye bread; substituting white flour with whole grain flour when baking muffins; wholewheat pasta which has whole grain as its first ingredient and all bran cereals.
