Whole Grain

[mbrown3]

I have not started my whole30 yet, but I am half way through the book (started reading today). I am curious about the whole grain research. I found a Harvard study that contradicts the claim in the book about whole grains. I am inclined to accept research from Harvard, but I am open to a retort. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/129/Suppl_1/A18.short#aff-1

[Robin Strathdee]

Hi mbrown3!

 

Bottom line: You'll be able to find a research study out there to support almost any health claim - meat vs vegetarian, dairy vs dairy free, organic vs conventional farming, grains vs whole grains vs no grains.  We're confident in our sources, and in the research done for the book. We've even listed our sources so you can do the research as well

[BarefootRambling]

Hi MBrown3 and welcome!

 

First off, +1 on what Robin said. To continue, meta studies like the one referenced rely on self administered food questionnaires that ask the individuals to accurately remember what they ate weeks or even months ago. They are also not able to take into account the participants other eating habits. For example, other studies have shown that most people who eat more whole grain products also eat healthier in general, i.e. more veggies and less soda, candy, etc. There's really no good way to differentiate the effects of one from the other (more grains vs less junk).

 

And after saying all that, what matters is what works for you! Personally, after completing my first Whole30 I found that any amount of grain caused negative reactions (drained energy, bloating, and occasionally an allergic skin reaction). Therefore for me, what works is steering clear of all grains, whole or otherwise.

 

I would encourage you to do a complete Whole30, then as you re-add foods take note of your reactions and do what works best.

[Guest Andria]

+2 to what was said above...Another important point to consider is to what type of diet was the high whole grain diet compared? They only speak of highest and lowest quintile of whole grain intake.  So what were the people in the 'lowest quintile' actually eating? Refined grains, sugar, fast food?  They only speak of controlling for confounding factors with a 'healthy eating index."  What does this mean?  I doubt the low whole grain diet resembled anything close to Whole30/Paleo.

 

This study certainly does not provide any evidence that a diet high in whole grains is better than a diet resembling Whole 30 and devoid of whole grains.

[praxisproject]

For all the science geeks out there, this study is based on a questionnaire, which is known to be a poor information source for research "Whole grain consumption was measured using a validated food frequency questionnaire every 2-4 years". The conclusions are also based on death rate, which also doesn't indicate best health. Correlation is also not causation. Those eating wholegrains may have been healthier, but they could also have been eating more vegetables, grass fed meat, etc.

 

There are quite a lot of people who can't eat wholegrains, from celiacs to folks with colitis: http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/living-with-uc-14/uc-problem-foods

 

Wholegrain makes me very very sick as I can't have gluten. The coating on the grain is where the gluten lives, so wholegrain is actually worse for me than not-whole grain For many people with gut problems, wholegrains are not suitable at all due to either the proteins or the toughness of the seed coating.

 

I get a reaction from everything on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolamin

[Sleeve]

In the kindest way I can say this and with best intentions, please don't assign credibility to a study because of the brand name on the label.

 

I read Walter Willett's Eat, Drink and Be Healthy and I side with the research and commentary that dismisses most of his metastudy analysis as biased toward making his points and closed-minded from alternate analyses of class behavior.  For example, the study participant aware enough to eat whole grains is probable to make other conscious choices to consume what they consider to be good foods.  Willett's studies lack adequate variable isolation because the data challenge is tremendous. The Framingham Study started in the 50s, and the Nurses Health Study ran for decades, all the while tracking orange versus creamsicle choices into the terabytes.  At the extremes, general behavior classing can be applied to oranges and creamsicles, but you poison the results with bias if you consider fructose to be harmful and you rank blueberries worse than apricots.  You bias in the reverse if antioxidant values are a factor.  You create mud if both are a factor.

 

Willett runs the Harvard Medical School department of nutrition and he is one of the most quoted scholars in the field.  His book was a very worthwhile read, approachable yet methodical.  It explains a lot about how big data can be used to drive USDA guidance and how we got to a world with heart healthy whole grains and artery clogging saturated fat without getting into the obvious politics, Monsanto, and Syngenta.

 

If you do read Willett, and I recommend him greatly, you may also want to balance him with William Davis' Wheat Belly.  Look at the summaries of The China Study, then read Denise Minger's decimation of Dr. Campbell.  Particularly, look at the obesity and type 2 diabetes rates in China as the population has moved from the field to the cubicle since Dr. Campbell wrote.

 

But at the same time, forge ahead with your Whole30 because nothing will sway your position more than how you feel when you're done and you keep many of the changes permanently.  If you're concerned about fat, don't be.  This place would look like one hand clapping while the crickets chirp if we were getting back blood markers that said this is all malarkey.  If you're concerned about the benefits of grain and how you'll miss them for 30 days, know that you will get all the nutrients from grain in the vegetables you'll plate when you follow the Whole30 template.

 

Dive in, the water's fine.  The pool might be a little crowded in the coming month as resolutions get real.