HealthProtocols
← All sources

Whole grain consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all cause and cause specific mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies

BMJ meta-analysis of 45 prospective studies (64 reports) finds higher whole-grain intake associated with lower all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in dose-response models—each ~90 g/day higher intake linked to roughly ~16% lower all-cause mortality in pooled summary estimates.

Design

  • Included: 45 prospective studies (64 publications); random-effects pooling
  • Exposure: higher vs lower whole-grain intake; dose–response per 90 g/day (~3 servings)

Headline pooled relative risks (per 90 g/day increment; abstract)

  • All-cause mortality: RR ~0.84 (95% CI 0.78–0.91)
  • Mortality from circulatory diseases: RR ~0.82 (0.75–0.88)
  • Total cancer mortality: RR ~0.94 (0.89–0.98)

Evidence hygiene

Observational cohorts—residual confounding (healthier lifestyles, smoking, adiposity) can inflate or shift estimates; read non-linear models and grain subtype analyses in the full text.

Publication

Aune D, Keum N, Giovannucci E, et al. BMJ. 2016 Jun 14;353:i2716. PMID 27301975.

Outcomes

  • All-Cause Mortality Risk
    Events: /
  • Per 90 g/day higher whole-grain intake: pooled RR ~0.82 (95% CI 0.75–0.88) for mortality from circulatory diseases and ~0.94 (0.89–0.98) for total cancer mortality (Aune et al. 2016 abstract).
View original paper →