Whole Grains - Is There a Cancer Link?

The evidence connecting consumption of whole grains to reduced risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes comes chiefly from population studies and laboratory work. In particular, diets high in fibre from wheat, maize, rice, barley, sorghum, oats, rye and millet may protect against type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity than by white wheat bread. Magnesium from cereals has been suggested to contribute to the health protective value of whole grain foods against type 2 diabetes. The evidence for whole grains, specifically fibre in lowering cancer risk is controversial. Numerous case-control studies suggest dietary fibre may reduce risk of gastric cancer, but this relationship remains uncertain and inconsistent. One large multi-country European cohort study examined the associations between total, cereal, vegetable and fruit as different food sources of fibre intakes and risk of gastric cancer and found that there was a possible protective effect of cereal fibre, but not total, vegetable or fruit fibre for gastric cancer.

High consumption of processed and/or red meat is associated with an increase in colorectal cancer risk but is less apparent in high fibre consumers hence a protective role is carried out by dietary fibre in combination with other foods. The outer layers of grains contain much higher levels of phytochemicals, such as phenolic compounds, lignans and folate than the inner parts. Part of the health effect derived from whole grain foods could be attributed to the phenolic compounds (which also act as antioxidants) in the bran. These potent health-promoting substances bind strongly to the outer layers (the germ and the bran) that are discarded in the refining process. It seems illogical to waste energy, resources and technology in refining whole grains when most of the essential nutrients are lost during the refining process!

Wheat Bread

The reason we consume refined products is because traditional methods of cooking whole grains are long and labour intensive. Real oats take a long time to cook. Traditional bread making requires fermentation. Fermentation of whole grains is one of the oldest biotechnological processes, dating back to ancient Egypt, where both beer and bread were produced by the help of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. The use of the sourdough process as a form of leavening is one of the oldest biotechnological processes in food production. Sourdough is a key element in traditional rye bread baking, where it contributes significantly to the processability, flavour and texture. Whole grain rye bread could not be produced without the help of the fermentation process. During fermentation, biochemical changes occur in the carbohydrate and protein components of the flour due to the action of microbial and indigenous enzymes. Sourdough fermentation is sufficient to reduce phytate content of whole wheat flour by about 70% by the endogenous phytate present in the flour hence making nutrient content from these cereals more available.

Yeast fermentation has also consistently increased the folate content to over three-fold at best in the baking process of both wheat and rye. The fermentation step can thus affect the overall retention of vitamins in the baking process. A short baking process was shown to decrease also the content of vitamin B1 in whole wheat baking, but a prolonged yeast or sourdough fermentation maintained it. The claimed health benefits of most of probiotic fermented foods are expressed either directly through the interaction of ingested live microorganisms, bacteria or yeast with the host (probiotic effect), or indirectly as a result of ingestion of microbial metabolites produced during the fermentation process (biogenic effect).

In our pursuit of a life of convenience, we have veered away from traditional methods of cooking at the cost of our health. Now, there is renewed interest in natural products, in traditional methods of cooking. Interestingly, a commercial product Avemar, derived from fermented wheat germ extract is currently being used as a dietary supplement in clinical trials for cancer therapy and has shown great potential and success. It would seem that the cause and cure of cancer may all be down to our diet!

Whole Grains - Is There a Cancer Link?

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