Whole grains help lower high blood pressure

Starting the morning with a bowl of porridge and eating a whole-grain sandwich at lunchtime can help cut the risk of high blood pressure, according to new research.

A study carried out by scientists from Aberdeen University which involved more than 200 volunteers revealed that eating three portions of whole-grain foods every day lowers the risk of high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

A good deal of research has suggested that a whole-grain diet is good for your health, but this study is one of the first to test the theory in a well-designed clinical trial.

Volunteers in the study ate three servings a day of whole-grain foods, which were either wheat, or a mixture of both wheat and oats. The whole-grain diets were compared with one that contained the same amounts of refined cereals and white bread.

The study used foods widely available in supermarkets to make the diet easy to follow, without having to make any changes to their usual lifestyle.

Apart from the whole-grain and the equivalent refined cereal foods, the volunteers were encouraged to continue with their normal food choices.

Dr Frank Thies, senior lecturer at The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, who led the study, said: “We observed a decrease in systolic blood pressure of 5-6 mm Hg in the volunteers who ate the whole-grain foods, and this effect is similar to that you might expect to get from using blood pressure-lowering drugs.

“This drop in systolic blood pressure could potentially decrease the incidence of heart attack and stroke disease by at least 15 and 25 per cent respectively.

The scientists also added that wholegrain wheat and oat-based recipes should be on everyone’s festive menu this Christmas.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This article was published on Fri 10 December 2010