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New Research: Bread and Pasta Linked to Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, and Early Death

What kind of study was this?

It’s what researchers call an observational prospective cohort study. With studies like these, researchers measure various things in a bunch of people at one time point and then follow up (observe them) at another time point.

The “prospective” part means the researchers planned from the beginning to measure things in these people in the future.

The “cohort” part refers to a group of people being studied and followed over time (as opposed to measuring one group of people at the beginning and a totally different group of people at a follow-up time).

What did researchers want to know?

This particular study was part of a much bigger study that aimed to measure the links between chronic diseases and diet, physical activity, and genetics.

In this narrow study, researchers wanted to know how diets high in refined grains (e.g., flour-based food like bread and pasta) are linked to heart disease, early death, high-risk blood markers, and high blood pressure.

What did the researchers actually do?

They gave over 140,000 people dietary questionnaires that asked what they ate on a regular basis, and they also took blood samples and asked about their medical history.

Then they followed up around 10 years later to take the same measurements. Then they ran all the measures through statistical analyses to see what behaviors or biomarkers were linked with which diseases.

What did the researchers find?

They found that those who had the highest intake of refined grains (above 350 grams/day) were 27% more likely to die than those who had the lowest intake (below 50 grams/day).

Also, systolic blood pressure was on average 7 points higher, and diastolic blood pressure was on average 2 points higher in those who had the highest intake of refined grains compared to those with the lowest.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Heart disease, death from chronic diseases, and high blood pressure aren’t major problems in kids. But they can be for parents.

Limiting refined grains (which is the Fierce Foods approach at The Family Thrive) is not just powerful medicine for parents, it sets kids up to eat in a way that will support their lifelong health. Be sure to visit our recipe section to check out amazing meals free of refined grains!

Original article:

Swaminathan Sumathi, Dehghan Mahshid, Raj John Michael, Thomas Tinku, Rangarajan Sumathy, Jenkins David et al. Associations of cereal grains intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality across 21 countries in Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study: prospective cohort study BMJ 2021; 372 :m4948

New Research: Bread and Pasta Linked to Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, and Early Death

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New Research: Bread and Pasta Linked to Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, and Early Death

People who ate over 350 grams of refined grains every day had more heart disease, higher blood pressure, and were more likely to die than those who ate less than 50 grams.

By

The Family Thrive Expert Team

June 3, 2021

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What kind of study was this?

It’s what researchers call an observational prospective cohort study. With studies like these, researchers measure various things in a bunch of people at one time point and then follow up (observe them) at another time point.

The “prospective” part means the researchers planned from the beginning to measure things in these people in the future.

The “cohort” part refers to a group of people being studied and followed over time (as opposed to measuring one group of people at the beginning and a totally different group of people at a follow-up time).

What did researchers want to know?

This particular study was part of a much bigger study that aimed to measure the links between chronic diseases and diet, physical activity, and genetics.

In this narrow study, researchers wanted to know how diets high in refined grains (e.g., flour-based food like bread and pasta) are linked to heart disease, early death, high-risk blood markers, and high blood pressure.

What did the researchers actually do?

They gave over 140,000 people dietary questionnaires that asked what they ate on a regular basis, and they also took blood samples and asked about their medical history.

Then they followed up around 10 years later to take the same measurements. Then they ran all the measures through statistical analyses to see what behaviors or biomarkers were linked with which diseases.

What did the researchers find?

They found that those who had the highest intake of refined grains (above 350 grams/day) were 27% more likely to die than those who had the lowest intake (below 50 grams/day).

Also, systolic blood pressure was on average 7 points higher, and diastolic blood pressure was on average 2 points higher in those who had the highest intake of refined grains compared to those with the lowest.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Heart disease, death from chronic diseases, and high blood pressure aren’t major problems in kids. But they can be for parents.

Limiting refined grains (which is the Fierce Foods approach at The Family Thrive) is not just powerful medicine for parents, it sets kids up to eat in a way that will support their lifelong health. Be sure to visit our recipe section to check out amazing meals free of refined grains!

Original article:

Swaminathan Sumathi, Dehghan Mahshid, Raj John Michael, Thomas Tinku, Rangarajan Sumathy, Jenkins David et al. Associations of cereal grains intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality across 21 countries in Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study: prospective cohort study BMJ 2021; 372 :m4948

What kind of study was this?

It’s what researchers call an observational prospective cohort study. With studies like these, researchers measure various things in a bunch of people at one time point and then follow up (observe them) at another time point.

The “prospective” part means the researchers planned from the beginning to measure things in these people in the future.

The “cohort” part refers to a group of people being studied and followed over time (as opposed to measuring one group of people at the beginning and a totally different group of people at a follow-up time).

What did researchers want to know?

This particular study was part of a much bigger study that aimed to measure the links between chronic diseases and diet, physical activity, and genetics.

In this narrow study, researchers wanted to know how diets high in refined grains (e.g., flour-based food like bread and pasta) are linked to heart disease, early death, high-risk blood markers, and high blood pressure.

What did the researchers actually do?

They gave over 140,000 people dietary questionnaires that asked what they ate on a regular basis, and they also took blood samples and asked about their medical history.

Then they followed up around 10 years later to take the same measurements. Then they ran all the measures through statistical analyses to see what behaviors or biomarkers were linked with which diseases.

What did the researchers find?

They found that those who had the highest intake of refined grains (above 350 grams/day) were 27% more likely to die than those who had the lowest intake (below 50 grams/day).

Also, systolic blood pressure was on average 7 points higher, and diastolic blood pressure was on average 2 points higher in those who had the highest intake of refined grains compared to those with the lowest.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Heart disease, death from chronic diseases, and high blood pressure aren’t major problems in kids. But they can be for parents.

Limiting refined grains (which is the Fierce Foods approach at The Family Thrive) is not just powerful medicine for parents, it sets kids up to eat in a way that will support their lifelong health. Be sure to visit our recipe section to check out amazing meals free of refined grains!

Original article:

Swaminathan Sumathi, Dehghan Mahshid, Raj John Michael, Thomas Tinku, Rangarajan Sumathy, Jenkins David et al. Associations of cereal grains intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality across 21 countries in Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study: prospective cohort study BMJ 2021; 372 :m4948

What kind of study was this?

It’s what researchers call an observational prospective cohort study. With studies like these, researchers measure various things in a bunch of people at one time point and then follow up (observe them) at another time point.

The “prospective” part means the researchers planned from the beginning to measure things in these people in the future.

The “cohort” part refers to a group of people being studied and followed over time (as opposed to measuring one group of people at the beginning and a totally different group of people at a follow-up time).

What did researchers want to know?

This particular study was part of a much bigger study that aimed to measure the links between chronic diseases and diet, physical activity, and genetics.

In this narrow study, researchers wanted to know how diets high in refined grains (e.g., flour-based food like bread and pasta) are linked to heart disease, early death, high-risk blood markers, and high blood pressure.

What did the researchers actually do?

They gave over 140,000 people dietary questionnaires that asked what they ate on a regular basis, and they also took blood samples and asked about their medical history.

Then they followed up around 10 years later to take the same measurements. Then they ran all the measures through statistical analyses to see what behaviors or biomarkers were linked with which diseases.

What did the researchers find?

They found that those who had the highest intake of refined grains (above 350 grams/day) were 27% more likely to die than those who had the lowest intake (below 50 grams/day).

Also, systolic blood pressure was on average 7 points higher, and diastolic blood pressure was on average 2 points higher in those who had the highest intake of refined grains compared to those with the lowest.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

Heart disease, death from chronic diseases, and high blood pressure aren’t major problems in kids. But they can be for parents.

Limiting refined grains (which is the Fierce Foods approach at The Family Thrive) is not just powerful medicine for parents, it sets kids up to eat in a way that will support their lifelong health. Be sure to visit our recipe section to check out amazing meals free of refined grains!

Original article:

Swaminathan Sumathi, Dehghan Mahshid, Raj John Michael, Thomas Tinku, Rangarajan Sumathy, Jenkins David et al. Associations of cereal grains intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality across 21 countries in Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study: prospective cohort study BMJ 2021; 372 :m4948

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