A bowl of oatmeal, a sandwich on whole-grain bread and a side of brown rice may do more for your heart and overall health than you think, according to a new study.Eating four to six servings of whole grains each day may offer the greatest benefits for heart health, lowering body weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure, a large meta-analysis published in the European Heart Journal found.The analysis reviewed data from 87 randomized trials involving more than 6,500 people across Asia, Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil. MAN SAYS MEAT-ONLY 'LION DIET' CLEARED PSORIASIS COVERING 90% OF HIS BODY, ENDED DECADES OF DEPRESSIONIt found that many of the greatest benefits occurred when people ate about 60 to 100 grams of whole grains daily — about what you would get from a bowl of oatmeal, two slices of whole-grain bread and a serving of brown rice, according to the researchers."This is the largest and most comprehensive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on whole-grain intake and cardiovascular risk factors," lead author Helda Tutunchi, of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, said in a statement.A new study suggests eating more whole grains each day may improve heart health and several other cardiovascular risk factors.(iStock)People who consumed more whole grains had lower body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL ("bad") cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose and levels of interleukin-6, an inflammatory marker, the study also found.One key finding, Tutunchi noted, was that whole grains appeared to boost heart health through "several modest improvements acting together, rather than through one large effect on a single factor."TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZThe researchers cautioned, however, that most of the studies they looked at were short and did not measure heart attacks or strokes directly.
Longer-term research is still needed, they said.Whole grains such as oats, br...