With the acceleration of the pace of contemporary life, people's concern for health is also increasing day by day.
Especially inflammation, this often overlooked "invisible killer", is quietly affecting the physical condition of middle-aged and elderly people.
Recently, an innovative study from Capital Medical University has opened up a new chapter in understanding the potential regulation of systemic chronic inflammation by the choice of "staple foods" in our diet.
This paper, titled “Comprehensive modulatory effects of whole grain consumption on immune-mediated inflammation in middle-aged and elderly community residents: A real-world randomized controlled trial”, published in the international authoritative 《journal Redox Biology》, explored the changes in inflammatory indicators through on-site intervention by consuming whole grain staple foods.
The research team selected 120 middle-aged and elderly community residents from Beijing and randomly divided them into two groups:
- one group continued to consume traditional refined grains,
- while the other group replaced their staple foods with whole grains,
maintaining their original cooking methods and dietary structure, and avoiding any other variables that might interfere, ensuring that the research results directly pointed to the impact of the food components.
After a 6-week intervention, the results showed that the levels of multiple inflammatory factors in the participants of the whole grain group had significantly decreased, especially those markers closely associated with chronic diseases.
This effect of reducing chronic inflammation gradually promotes the balance of the immune system, which helps to prevent the development risks of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some age-related degenerative diseases.
It is worth noting that the study was conducted in a "real-world" setting, where the participants did not alter their usual dietary habits or cooking methods. They only changed the staple food from refined grains to whole grains, which demonstrates the high operability and practical significance of the results.
This provides the public with a simple and effective strategy for maintaining a healthy diet: without having to drastically change one's diet, simply replacing refined grains with more nutritious ones can significantly improve the body's inflammatory state.
Why do whole grains have such an effect?
Whole grains retain the complete bran, germ and endosperm. They are rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and abundant plant compounds. These nutrients play a crucial role in regulating immune responses, reducing oxidative stress and inhibiting inflammatory signal transduction.
In contrast, refined grains have undergone processing that removes most of the fibers and trace elements, resulting in a significant reduction in their nutritional value.
This research not only deepens our understanding of the relationship between dietary components and immune health, but also provides scientific basis for the formulation of public health policies.
As chronic inflammation has become a major threat to human health worldwide, choosing healthy staple foods - whole grains - might become a "new daily routine" for the middle-aged and elderly population for anti-inflammatory health care.
references
DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103337
If you are interested, you can also refer to the article：
"Persist in Jogging and Stay Away from Chronic Inflammation - Old, Fat, Tired".