People in UK 'need to eat more whole grains'

It's widely known that eating a healthy, balanced diet - along with regularly exercising - is crucial to warding off health implications such as obesity and diabetes. A new study, however, has revealed that almost one-fifth of people in the UK don't eat any whole grain foods in their diet whatsoever.

Whole grain foods include brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal and wholemeal bread - all of which contain the essential parts and natural nutrients of the entire grain seed. When consumed as part of a balanced diet, they provide the body with dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals that may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Previous studies have linked higher whole grain consumption to lower body weight and cholesterol levels.

Researchers at Newcastle University set out to investigate the whole grain intake of people living in the UK.

They analysed data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey of 3,703 children, teenagers and adults.

It was found that a mere six per cent of children and 17 per cent of adults consumed at least 48g of whole grains each day - the minimum recommended daily intake in the US.

What's more, the average daily whole grain intake each day for adults was 20g, while this dropped to 13g for children and teenagers.

Over 40 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of children ate less than 16g of whole grains a day, with many consuming none whatsoever.

Chris Seal, lead researcher of the study, said: 'In the UK, we tend to eat a lot of white bread, rice, pasta and cereals and lots of processed foods, all of which have no - or very little - whole grain in them and also tend to be higher in fat and sugar. Also, because the refined foods are less filling we tend to eat more of them.

'So not only are we missing out on the benefits of the whole grains, the alternative may be having an additional negative effect on our health.

'The key message here is that this doesn't require a major lifestyle change. Just small tweaks to the diet - such as replacing white rice and pasta for brown or eating porridge or a wholegrain cereal for breakfast - can have a major impact on your health.'

The study has been published in the British Journal of Nutrition.ADNFCR-554-ID-801784624-ADNFCR

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