Data from over 30,000 participates in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study indicated that increased intakes of whole grains are associated with a 19 per cent lower incidence of hypertension.
The research from Harvard School of Public Health, report the findings online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “These findings have implications for future dietary guidelines and prevention of hypertension,” they reported.
High blood pressure (hypertension),defined as having a systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) greater than 140 and 90 mmHg, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a disease that causes almost 50 per cent of deaths in modern society.
While the potential heart health benefits of whole grains have been reported before, the Harvard researchers note that no studies have reported if the total grams of whole grains are linked to the risk of hypertension.
The 31,684 health professionals aged between 40 and 75 without known hypertension, cancer, stroke, or heart disease were followed for 18 years. During this time, 9,227 cases of incident hypertension were documented.
Comparing the highest intakes of whole grains to the lowest intakes, the researchers calculated that whole grains were associated with a 19 per cent reduction in the incidence of hypertension.
When they subsequently looked at total bran, a 15 per cent reduction in the incidence of hypertension was observed for individuals with the highest intakes, compared to the lowest.
“In summary, we found an independent inverse association between intake of whole grains and incident hypertension,” wrote the researchers. “Bran may play an important role in this association,” they concluded.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
