Research

Mixed

Higher dietary whole grain intake is associated with significantly lower total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, with each serving (28 g/d) reducing total mortality by 5% and CVD mortality by 9%.

To reduce your risk of dying from heart disease or other causes, aim to include at least one serving (approx. 28 grams) of whole grains in your daily diet. This could be a slice of whole grain bread, a half-cup of cooked whole grain pasta, or a bowl of oatmeal. Focus on the bran component (found in whole wheat, oats, barley) as it drives the cardiovascular benefits. This is a sustainable, low-effort dietary change that compounds over time.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We further estimated that every serving (28 g/d) of whole grain consumption was associated with a 5% (95% CI, 2%-7%) lower total morality or a 9% (95% CI, 4%-13%) lower CVD mortality... These data indicate that higher whole grain consumption is associated with lower total and CVD mortality in US men and women, independent of other dietary and lifestyle factors.
Hongyu Wu et al. · JAMA Internal Medicine · 2015

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort studies (NHS and HPFS) with long follow-up and multivariate adjustment, but observational design limits causal inference compared to RCTs.

Source

Association Between Dietary Whole Grain Intake and Risk of Mortality

Hongyu Wu et al. · JAMA Internal Medicine · 2015

DOI 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.6283

cohort · n=118085Cited 192×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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