Do Whole Grains Really Lower the Risk of Heart Failure

From the November 2008 issue of Journal of the American Dietetic Association comes a 13-year study of 14,000 people announcing that those who ate more whole grains and fewer eggs and butter suffered less congestive heart failure. The implication, the news outlets tell us, is heart health ensues from a whole grain-rich diet.

What the headlines leave out is what the study didn't find. Here we have a major study that also looked at rates of consumption of red meat, fruits and vegetables, fish, and nuts. Are we really to believe that eating our veggies isn't good for our hearts? Or that chomping down barbecued ribs isn't bad?

And the mean improvement in risk of heart failure for the low-egg group? 7 per cent.

I prefer a good whole wheat to white, myself. But studies like this can never tell us whether any particular food causes or prevents any disease. They can only tell us that eating a particular is or is not correlated with a disease. It may well be that people who eat fried egg sandwiches on Wonder Bread are not other prudent in their health habits, whereas people who dine on 7-grain bread are. Just don't read too much into any one study, especially if it's correlational.