Study Finds Older Men Can Reduce Their Risk of Diabetes By Eating Whole Grains

Men, eat your whole grains. Especially if you are middle-aged or older, and you want to decrease your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Increasing your intake of whole grains will help, says a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The finding echoes the results of two other recent reports focusing on women and whole grain intake.

In the most recent study, researchers from Simmons College, Harvard Medical School, and Children's Hospital, Boston, followed almost 43,000 men, beginning in 1986, for 12 years. None of the men, whose ages ranged between 40 and 75, had a history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

The researchers tracked intake of whole grains, and asked periodically about height, weight, and physical activity. They found that 1,197 cases of type 2 diabetes were diagnosed.

They then categorized the men into five levels of grain consumption—from an average of .4 servings of whole grains per day to 3.2 servings a day. They found those in the highest-consumption category had a 42 percent decreased risk for type 2 diabetes, compared with those in the lowest-consumption category.

"We cannot promise that people who eat a lot of whole grains won't get diabetes, but people who eat a lot of whole grains are less likely to get diabetes," says lead author Teresa T. Fung, a dietitian and an assistant professor of nutrition at Simmons College.

Eating whole grains might even help compensate for other risks. Obesity increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, but men in the study who were obese but physically active and who also had a high intake of whole grains had a 52 percent lower risk of diabetes than did inactive obese men who did not eat many whole grains.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 17 million Americans have diabetes, and 5.9 million are as of yet undiagnosed. Most have type 2 diabetes, in which the body does not produce enough insulin or the body's cells ignore the insulin.

Where's the Magic in Whole Grains?

Researchers speculate the high fiber content of the bran fraction of whole grains slows down gastric emptying, and thus slows down the release of glucose into the bloodstream. That, in turn, reduces the insulin response after meals and the risk of developing diabetes.

Whole grain foods also have more magnesium than refined grain foods, and that has been shown to improve the response of insulin, too.

"The insulin level in the blood tends to be more stable," Fung says, "and it doesn't peak as high, and that might have something to do with reducing the risk."

As good as whole grains are, most Americans do not eat nearly enough. Recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2000 suggest that several of the recommended six to 11 servings of grain per day be whole grains.

"About half of all grains [eaten] should be whole grains," Fung says. Depending on a person's size and caloric needs, that means at least three servings a day of whole grains, she says.

The new study provides reinforcement for what nutrition and diabetes experts have known for some time, says a certified diabetes educator at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

"This is something we've known all along is a good thing," says Karen Chalmers, director of nutrition at the center.

In addition to cutting your diabetes risk, whole grains fill you up and may make it easier to lose weight. "We stress fiber as a way to lose weight," she says.

To boost whole grain intake, Fung suggests reading labels on food products and looking for ingredients such as "whole wheat," or buying food products such as oatmeal, brown rice, or whole grain pastas.

Always consult your physician for more information.