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According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who eat whole grain foods, such as wholewheat bread, do not experience the same gain in waist size as those who consume white bread, and processed white flour products, such as cakes, cookies, Danish pastries and cinnamon buns, etc.
The scientists at Tufts University in Boston found that whole grain foods, which are higher in fibre, give a feeling of fullness so you eat less, say Dr. Katherine Tucker’s research team. Dr. Tucker avers: “Waist circumference is very much associated with this high-refined grains pattern.”
Many of the foods in the healthy diet are high in fibre. Not only do these foods fill you up more quickly, they also have a low glycemic index (GI), says researchers. The GI is a relative measure of how fast a given food raises blood sugar.
The study compared foods gram for gram for carbohydrate. Carbohydrates that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest GI value and blood glucose response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly release glucose gradually into the blood stream and have low GI values. In turn, the level of blood sugar affects the amount of insulin produced by the body which is linked with appetite.
“Many of the foods in the healthy pattern are low in glycaemic load, which evokes a decreased insulin response and therefore decreases hunger and energy intake,” say the researchers. “Those in the white-bread pattern received almost 16% of their daily energy intake from white bread — the food with the highest GI value.”
According to a spokesperson with the British Nutrition Foundation, “Consumption of wholegrain foods, such as wholemeal bread, is associated with reduced rates of heart disease, some cancers, type II diabetes and such foods may play a role in weight maintenance.”
