Nutrition Current Topics in Nutrition

A Bowl of Cereal a Day for Heart Health?

A bowl of cereal may not only make for a great breakfast, but it may also be great for your heart. Researchers have discovered that eating whole-grain cereals seven or more times a week seems to be linked to a lower risk of heart failure

If seven bowls of cereal a week sounds like a lot, that’s all right - it seems that eating fewer bowls will still help lower your risk of this disease.

“There are good and powerful arguments for eating a whole-grain cereal for breakfast,” said Dr. Luc Djoussé, lead study author.

Researchers from Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School looked at a survey of almost 10,500 physicians. Among the participants, 79 percent reported eating only whole-grain cereals, with the rest consuming mostly refined cereals.

Looking just at those who ate whole-grain cereals, 35 percent reported eating them seven or more times a week, 39 percent ate them two to six times a week, and 26 percent had them only once a week.

Over the course of the next ten years, the participants were asked about any serious medical event that may have taken place, particularly any indication of heart failure.

Ultimately, it was determined that those participants who ate these cereals the most—seven times a week or more—had a 28 percent lower risk of developing heart failure than someone who never ate this type of cereal. Similarly, those who ate these cereals between two and six times a week had lowered their risk by 22 percent, and those who ate whole-grain cereal only once a week had a 14 percent lower chance of developing heart failure.

Heart failure is a chronic condition that occurs when the heart is no longer able to pump blood efficiently. This can cause someone to feel tired and make simple activities, like walking, difficult. Heart failure can be the result of various heart problems, such as high blood pressure, past heart attacks and coronary artery disease, which force the heart to work harder than it should.

More research needs to be done to confirm this link, but Djoussé and colleagues believe that whole-grain cereals help to fight these underlying causes of heart failure. “A whole-grain, high-fiber breakfast may lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol and prevent heart attacks,” said Djoussé.