A BOWL OF porridge in the morning could make a serious difference to your health.

New research carried out by scientists at Harvard University has found that eating whole grains can significantly improve the quality and length of a persons life.

As part of the study researchers looked at almost 120,000 subjects – of which 74,341 were women and 43,744 were men – with information taken between 1984 and 2010.

All of these participants were given a clean bill of health at the start of the programme.

By the conclusion of the study in 2010 more than 26,000 of the subjects had died.

Whole grains 

It was found that those who ate whole grains, including foods like porridge, brown rice and corn, were most likely to avoid illness – particularly heart disease.

This is good news for those among us who take the healthy option when it comes to the choice of a breakfast meal.

In the study, it was found that consuming one ounce (28g) of whole grains every day, a persons could reduce their risk across all diseases by 5% and their specific risk of death through a heart condition by 9%.

This means that eating even a small bowl of porridge in the morning could have substantial long term health benefits.

Findings

It was also found that despite having a positive effect for individuals overall – eating oats does not impact on a person’s risk of cancer.

As part of the study, factors such as a person’s age, smoking and body mass index were adjusted for.

In the paper’s conclusion, it is stated that the “results are in line with recommendations that promote increased whole grain consumption to facilitate disease prevention.”

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