title: Association between dietary whole grain intake and risk of mortality: two large prospective studies in US men and women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Higher intake of whole grains has been associated with a lower risk of major chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (CVD), although limited prospective evidence exists regarding whole grains' association with mortality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between dietary whole grain consumption and risk of mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated 74 341 women from the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2010) and 43 744 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2010), 2 large prospective cohort studies. All patients were free of CVD and cancer at baseline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hazard ratios (HRs) for total mortality and mortality due to CVD and cancer according to quintiles of whole grain consumption, which was updated every 2 or 4 years by using validated food frequency questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We documented 26 920 deaths during 2 727 006 person-years of follow-up. After multivariate adjustment for potential confounders, including age, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and modified Alternate Healthy Eating Index score, higher whole grain intake was associated with lower total and CVD mortality but not cancer mortality: the pooled HRs for quintiles 1 through 5, respectively, of whole grain intake were 1 (reference), 0.99 (95% CI, 0.95-1.02), 0.98 (95% CI, 0.95-1.02), 0.97 (95% CI, 0.93-1.01), and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.88-0.95) for total mortality (P fortrend < .001); 1 (reference), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88-1.01), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.87-1.01), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.80-0.94), and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.78-0.92) for CVD mortality (P fortrend < .001); and 1 (reference), 1.02 (95% CI, 0.96-1.08), 1.05 (95% CI, 0.99-1.12), 1.04 (95% CI, 0.98-1.11), and 0.97 (95% CI, 0.91-1.04) for cancer mortality (P fortrend = .43). We further estimated that every serving (28 g/d) of whole grain consumption was associated with a 5% (95% CI, 2%-7%) lower total morality or a 9% (95% CI, 4%-13%) lower CVD mortality, whereas the same intake level was nonsignificantly associated with lower cancer mortality (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.94-1.02). Similar inverse associations were observed between bran intake and CVD mortality, with a pooled HR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73-0.87; P fortrend < .001), whereas germ intake was not associated with CVD mortality after adjustment for bran intake.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicate that higher whole grain consumption is associated with lower total and CVD mortality in US men and women, independent of other dietary and lifestyle factors. These results are in line with recommendations that promote increased whole grain consumption to facilitate disease prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Flint
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: Qibin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore4National University Health System, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Rob M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts5The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Sampson
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts5The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts6Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Hea.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Rimm
authors.affiliation: The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts6Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Michelle D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts5The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts6Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Hea.
authors.forename: Walter C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Willett
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts5The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts6Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Hea.
authors.forename: Frank B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts5The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D004032:Diet; D002523:Edible Grain; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014481:United States