Study Links Whole Grains with a Longer Life

People who eat more whole grains may live longer, a large new study finds. The study was based on information about diet from 2 long-running studies of health professionals. It included more than 118,000 adults. At the start of the study, no one had heart disease or cancer. People answered questions about diet every 2 to 4 years. Researchers kept track of people for an average of 26 years. In that time, nearly 27,000 people died. For every daily serving of whole grains, people who ate the largest amount of whole grains daily were about 5% less likely to die of any cause than those who ate the smallest amount. For each daily serving, people were about 9% less likely to die of heart disease. Eating whole grains did not affect the risk of cancer death. A serving was equal to 1 ounce (28 grams) of whole grains.