1. Fibre: May cut hypertension
Researchers in Spain have revealed that an increased intake of cereal fibre and vegetable protein could reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure by up to 50 per cent.
2. Soybeans: Reduce trans fats
The level of trans fats in cereal and energy bars may be lowered by increasing the oleic acid in soybeans while keeping linolenic levels low, according to new research from Iowa State University.
3. Cereals: Boost immunity, slow aging
French and Spanish researchers have discovered more good news about polyphenols in cereals. An animal study reveals that cereals rich in polyphenols could be beneficial to the immune system and may even slow aging.
4. Diet: Plant-based seen as beneficial Australian researchers have found that consumers generally believe that a plant-based diet has many health benefits but lack of information about such diets are a barrier to more people changing their diet.
5. Grains in the News:
Folate fortification : Missing the target?
The mandatory addition of folic acid to bread, to prevent neural tube defects in unborn babies, is currently being debated in the Australian media. George Weston Foods recently undertook a Newspoll survey that showed that half of all women of child bearing age consume NO bread on any specific day.
An increased intake of cereal fibre and vegetable protein could cut the risk of hypertension by up to 50 per cent, says a new study from Spain.
"Interestingly, the risk was only apparent when we took into consideration other dietary factors," wrote Alvaro Alonso, lead author of the study.
The ‘five-a-day’ diet has been the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 1991 after a series of studies consistently showed that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables resulted in lower incidences of heart disease and some cancers.
“Dietary fibre and protein have long been linked to improved blood pressure by cross-sectional studies, but these either did not account for differences between animal and vegetable protein or did not account for minerals in vegetables,” said Alonso.
Alonso and his colleagues from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, also said that there has previously been no available prospective information about fibre and the risk of hypertension in populations outside the United States.
The researchers set about filling this knowledge gap by enrolling 5,880 university graduates in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) study. Dietary data was obtained at the start of the study with validated 136-item food frequency questionnaires.
After 28 months of follow-up, 180 subjects had been medically diagnosed with hypertension, defined as having a systolic and diastolic BP greater than 140 and 90 mmHg.
After adjustment for potential confounders such as age, sex, BMI, smoking, intakes of sodium, caffeine, magnesium, potassium, low-fat dairy and several other variables, the researchers found that people in the highest vegetable protein intake group had a 50 per cent lower risk of hypertension compared to those in the lowest intake group. No relationship between animal protein and raised blood pressure was observed.
Fibre from cereals was also associated with a protective effect – the highest cereal fibre intake group had a 40 per cent reduction in hypertension risk compared to the lowest intake group.
The Navarra researchers noted that the mechanisms by which fibre or protein could reduce the risk of hypertension are not known, but suggest that the relationship between fibre and insulin resistance could, in turn, affect blood pressure, or that vegetable protein could result in higher serum concentrations of certain amino acids that are beneficial for blood pressure.
By increasing the oleic acid content in soybeans, and keeping linolenic levels low, researchers may have discovered a way to lower the level of artery-clogging trans fats in products such as cereals and energy bars.
This will be beneficial to manufacturers marketing their products from a health basis as studies have shown that trans fats increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol.
Existing research shows that high levels of trans fats are linked with obesity and heart disease, and that LDL cholesterol build-up in the body can lead to atherosclerosis - clogging of the arteries linked to the heart and brain.
Low levels of linolenic acid in soybeans eliminates or greatly reduces the need for partial hydrogenation - a process which forms trans fats in the oil. However, in the past these beans have been too unstable to be suitable for use in the majority of manufacturing processes.
The team at Iowa State University found that, by reducing the lenolic acid content on the soybean to just one per cent, they were able to increase its oleic acid content from 28 to 50 per cent, thereby rendering it more stable.
Non-hydrogenated, low-linolenic oil containing no trans fats could then be derived from the test soybean and would be suitable for use in a greater number of applications such as baked foods.
The potential for a new trans fat-reducing ingredient is particularly significant in the light of increasing pressure from campaigners calling for Europe to follow the US and Danish models whereby government-regulated maximum levels are set for trans fats in the food industry.
Lobby groups also want to see compulsory product labels signalling the inclusion of the harmful fats.
Polyphenols from cereals could restore immune system function and potentially extend lifespan, suggests an animal study from French and Spanish researchers.
“The supplementation used in the present study seems to decrease the biological age of prematurely aging mice and probably can increase the longevity of these animals,” wrote the researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid and Danone Vitapole.
Polyphenol-rich fruits such as blueberries and grapes have been branded by some as anti-aging foods, and, if the new research can be reproduced in humans, cereals could join this group.
The cereals used in this study (wheatgerm and buckwheat) are rich sources of polyphenols, specifically gallic acid, catechin, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, sinapic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin and rutin.
“The present work is the first in which polyphenolic dietary supplementation was studied as a nutritional intervention targeted at age-related immune system dysfunction,” wrote lead author Pedro Alvarez in the journal Nutrition.
The researchers used prematurely aging mice (PAM) and supplemented their diet with 20 per cent (w/w) of one of two different cereals - wheatgerm (16 mice, 518 mg/d polyphenols) or buckwheat flour (16 mice, 14 mg/d polyphenols).
A further 26 PAM were fed a standard (control) diet, while 30 non-PAM mice were used as a further control to compare the effects of the supplements on immune function.
After five weeks of supplementation, a comparison of the two control groups (PAM and non-PAM) showed the aged mice had significantly worse immune function than non-PAM.
When comparing the PAM control group and the two PAM supplemented groups, the researchers found that addition of the cereal polyphenols to the diet of the mice was associated with significantly improved activity of the immune system.
“The present work has demonstrated that dietary supplementation with cereals naturally rich in polyphenols is a nutritional strategy targeted at restoring immune function in PAM, thus leading to better health and increasing the probability of aging successfully,” concluded the researchers.
The mechanism behind the apparent benefits of the cereal polyphenols is said to involve the antioxidant activity of the cereal extracts in response to the oxidative stress associated with aging.
“Thus, the age-related increase in oxidative stress has been found to have a profound effect on immune system competence and antioxidants can exert a favourable effect on immune system function in adults and especially in aged subjects.”
These findings are in-line with other anti-aging reports using polyphenols. Only recently, an animal study with Concord grape juice reported that the polyphenols in the juice were 'reversing' the effects of aging in the brain.
Researchers from Deakin University in Melbourne have found that the majority of consumers recognise the health benefits associated with the consumption of a plant-based diet, according to findings published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The aim of the study was to examine consumers' perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet.
The study involved a mail survey of 415 randomly selected adults based in Victoria. The survey included questions on perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet.
The main perceived barrier to adoption of a plant-based diet was a lack of information about such diets (42 per cent agreement). Sex, age and education differences were present in over a quarter of the barrier items.
For example, non-university-educated respondents and older people were less willing to change their current eating pattern than were university educated and younger respondents.
The main benefits associated with plant-based diets were health benefits, particularly decreased saturated fat intake (79 per cent agreement), increased fibre intake (76 per cent) and disease prevention (70 per cent).
Age, sex and education differences with regard to benefits were apparent, although sex differences were more important than age or education differences.
The researchers concluded that the majority of respondents perceived there to be health benefits associated with the consumption of a plant-based diet. Compared with the proportion of respondents who agreed that there were particular benefits of eating a plant-based diet, perceived barriers were relatively low.
An understanding of the perceived benefits and barriers of consuming a plant-based diet will help formulate strategies that aim to influence beliefs about plant foods, plant food consumption and, ultimately, public health.
George Weston Foods (GWF), one of Australia’s largest bread manufacturers, has written to Federal and State Ministers urging them to reject a proposal by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for the mandatory fortification of bread.
“We believe that everything possible should be done to reduce the number of Neural Tube Defect’s (NTD’s) in babies in Australia by ensuring that women of child-bearing age consume enough folic acid, but mandating the fortification of bread alone is not the way to go,” said GWF’s Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Manager, Fiona Fleming. “To obtain the recommended daily dose of folic acid, women would have to eat about 11 slices of white bread each day. But research shows on average they only eat about 11 slices of bread in total a week.”
A Newspoll survey commissioned by GWF showed that half of all women of child bearing age consume no bread on any specific day. As well, the daily consumption records compiled by a Sydney-based dietitian showed 21 per cent of women eat no bread at all.
Folic acid is already contained in many breads provided today by GWF and other manufacturers. GWF believes that mandating it in all breads would unnecessarily remove the freedom of choice consumers currently have.
The food industry believe that a combination of voluntary fortification of a variety of foodstuffs, education and supplements is the answer to ensuring women of child-bearing age met their daily folic acid requirements.
THE verdict is in: a high-carbohydrate diet of low-glycaemic index foods is the best way to lose weight – especially for women.
In a world-first 12-week trial, Australian researchers compared the benefits and risks of low-GI and high-protein diets. They found the low-GI diet had a better effect on the waistline and significantly reduced heart disease.
The results showed 60 to 80 per cent of participants on the low-GI, high-carbohydrate diet lost more than their weight-loss target of five per cent total body weight.
Researchers for the study – published in the Archives of Internal Medicine – also found the low-GI dieters' bad cholesterol levels dropped by up to six per cent.
"We know low-GI foods are more filling and more satiating so you feel more full during the meal," said co-author Joanna McMillan-Price, from the University of Sydney's Human Nutrition Unit. "GI is a measure of the quality of the carbohydrate and how fast it gets absorbed."
With low-GI carbohydrates, glucose trickles slowly into your bloodstream, keeping energy levels balanced and meaning the foods keep you fuller for longer.
The study comes after the international bestselling CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet book and the well-known Atkins diet came under fire because of potential heart damage from a focus on high proteins and moderate-to-low carbs.
"You can get good fat loss with a high meat diet but you have to combine high meat intake with low-GI foods because that protects your heart and any adverse effects," Ms McMillan-Price said.
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