EVERYDAY HEALTH: …[ Dr. Qi ] Sun’s team based the findings on data from two long-term health studies dating back to the mid-1980s involving more than 118,000 nurses and health professionals. In the studies, participants were required to fill out food and diet questionnaires every two to four years, which included questions about their whole grain intake.
Freshly harvested grains such as wheat, barley and oatmeal consist of three parts. An outer shell called the bran protects the seed. The germ is the small embryo inside the seed that could sprout into a new plant. And the endosperm — by far the largest part of the seed — is the potential food supply for a new plant started from the germ.
In refining grains to make processed flour, manufacturers typically strip away the bran and the germ — leaving only the calorie-rich endosperm. But whole grain foods such as oatmeal, popcorn, brown rice and whole wheat bread and cereal contain all three parts of the seed… (more)
