Health News (Week 12 – 2015)
By Robert Redfern

I have been asked to comment on my favorite subject this week: grains and cereals. You may have seen headlines around the study of diets of retirees in the USA claiming:

“Cereal Fibers’ May Help You Live Longer”

“The secret to a long and healthy life?”
Eating CEREAL: Diet high in grains reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes

So readers of my books and newsletters may be a little confused as I state very clearly that eating grains and cereals (including wholegrain) are a prime cause of disease and are to be avoided as much as possible and replaced by vegetables, seeds and legumes in the diet.

Of course I had to read the study (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/59) to find out if there was anything new I should know and if I needed to change my recommendations. What I found was not a scientific study but a review of people’s eating habits, through a questionnaire, asking how much whole grains they had eaten compared to processed grains. Important variables such as exercise and other diet choices were not considered. It is clearly a study to prove wholegrain is better for your health than processed grain and all of the references are selected to support this.

It is almost impossible to draw any serious conclusions from asking people to self-report on how much they have eaten a certain ‘healthier’ food. There could be a natural bias to report a better choice.

Those accurately reporting eating wholegrain as a healthier choice would almost certainly have been exercising more and eating more vegetables as part of their healthier choices. These other healthier choices were not taken into account.

The more vegetables eaten the healthier you stay and the amount consumed should have been reported and factored as part of the studies and the results.

Another factor in health is socioeconomic status. It is a fact that middle class people live longer and healthier than the working class and the poor. There is no mention of this in the study.

Out of 367,000+ people in the study there was no mention of vegetarians or 7th Day Advent or other groups that follow specific diets that can influence the outcome.

The amount of meat eaten is a big factor as eating meat alongside grains and cereals is shown in studies to be a major factor in disease. This was shown in a large study in China, which explained why slim people in China were getting the same rate of Diabetes Type 2 as people in the USA, where obesity is blamed as the main factor. It was found that eating meat and rice in the same dish caused a large elevation in blood sugar levels as well as the well-documented glycation damage that takes place to the arteries and organs. By not identifying the amount of combined meat and grain dishes, an important health risk was excluded.

Lastly, if I had to guess I would say in my opinion it was analyzed and reported at the behest of the food industry to counter the growing movement away from all grains and cereals towards a Ketogenic or Paleo diet.

In conclusion:

Whether the methodology was deliberately fixed or it was just badly designed isn’t clear but I believe not too much notice can be taken of this study.

I am in no doubt that an increase in fiber (fibre) in the diet is good for health but I disagree it should come from grains and cereals. The references this study selected failed to mention that fiber (fibre) from grains and cereals may be bad for your health. You can read more here: http://gut.bmj.com/content/48/5/587.full

If you want to read my earlier articles on why grains and cereals are bad for you then see:

https://naturallyhealthynews.com/newsletter/2014/week-20-2014-is-gluten-free-good-for-you/

https://naturallyhealthynews.com/articles/magazines/issue-23/against-the-grain/

https://naturallyhealthynews.com/newsletter/2014/week-44-2014-may-i-say-it-again/

I have many more and if you are interested go here: https://naturallyhealthynews.com/?s=gluten

Can you stop all grains and cereals? It’s tough (as I can vouch but there are over 100 studies showing it will help you to get and stay healthy.

Just so you know I try to follow my own advice as much as possible and I try to avoid grains and cereals every day. I am now in my 70th year, and feel great but of course I want to feel even better.