Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Whole grains and adiposity: little association among British adults

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 63, pages 229–237 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives:

To examine associations of whole-grain intake with body weight and adiposity in two nationally representative samples of British adults.

Subjects/Methods:

A total of 2064 adults aged 16–64 years in 1986–1987, 1599 adults aged 19–64 years in 2000–2001. Whole-grain intake (g day−1 and 16-g amounts) was estimated from consumption of all foods with ⩾10, ⩾25 or ⩾51% whole-grain content, using 7-day weighed dietary records. Body weight, body mass index (BMI) and, in 2000–2001, waist circumference (WC) were measured. BMI and WC were considered as continuous and categorical variables. For each survey, associations of whole-grain intake with body weight and anthropometric indices were examined in men and women separately, before and after adjustment for age, occupational social class, smoking habit, region, season and, in 2000–2001, misreporting.

Results:

In 1986–1987, whole-grain intake was inversely associated with percentage of men classified using BMI as obese (P=0.008, trend), independent of other factors. However, intake was not associated with body weight or prevalence of overweight. No corresponding associations were observed among women. In 2000–2001, whole-grain intake was not associated with body weight, BMI or WC.

Conclusions:

Two national surveys of British adults, with detailed quantitative estimates of whole-grain intake, provide little evidence of an association of whole-grain intake with body weight or measures of adiposity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bazzano LA, Song Y, Bubes V, Good CK, Manson JE, Liu S (2005). Dietary intake of whole and refined grain breakfast cereals and weight gain in men. Obes Res 13, 1952–1960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bigaard J, Frederiksen K, Tjønneland A, Thomsen BL, Overvad K, Heitmann BL et al. (2005). Waist circumference and body composition in relation to all-cause mortality in middle-aged men and women. Int J Obes 29, 778–784.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Black AE, Cole TJ (2000). Within- and between-subject variation in energy expenditure measured by the doubly-labelled water technique: implications for validating reported dietary energy intake. Eur J Clin Nutr 54, 386–394.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chan DC, Watts GF, Barrett PHR, Burke V (2003). Waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index as predictors of adipose tissue compartments in men. Q J Med 96, 441–447.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deurenberg P, Deurenberg-Yap M, Guricci S (2002). Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationship. Obes Rev 3, 141–146.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deurenberg P, Yap M, van Staveren WA (1998). Body mass index and percent body fat: a meta-analysis among different ethnic groups. Int J Obes 22, 1164–1171.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Esmaillzadeh A, Mirmiran P, Azizi F (2005). Whole-grain intake and the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype in Tehranian adults. Am J Clin Nutr 81, 55–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Food Standards Agency (2002). McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 6th summary edn. Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge.

  • Good CK, Albertson AM, Eldridge AL, Holschuh NM (2005). The relationship between whole grain consumption and body mass index in American women from NHANES 1999–2000 and the USDA's pyramid servings database for the USDA survey food codes. Ann Nutr Metab 49 (Suppl 1), 363 (abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Good CR, Holschuh NK, Albertson AK, Eldridge AK (2004). The relationship between whole grain consumption and body mass index in adult men and women: data from the USDA's Continuing survey of food intakes by individuals, Pyramid servings data, 1994–96. FASEB J 18, A114 (abstract).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory J, Foster K, Tyler H, Wiseman M (1990). Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults. HM Stationery Office: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halkjær J, Sørensen TIA, Tjønneland A, Togo P, Holst C, Heitmann BL (2004). Food and drinking patterns as predictors of 6-year BMI-adjusted changes in waist circumference. Br J Nutr 92, 735–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson L, Gregory J, Swan G (2002). The National Diet & Nutrition Survey: Adults Aged 19–64 Years. Volume 1: Types and Quantities of Food Consumed. The Stationery Office: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobson W (2002). The Classic 1000 Cake & Bake Recipes. Foulsham: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland B, Unwin ID, Buss DH (1988). Cereals and Cereal Products. Third Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Royal Society of Chemistry/Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland B, Welch AA, Unwin ID, Buss DH, Paul AA, Southgate DAT (1991). McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th edn. Royal Society of Chemistry/Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth NC, Saltzman E, Roberts SB (2001). Dietary fiber and weight regulation. Nutr Rev 59, 129–139.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang TT-K, Roberts SB, Howarth NC, McCrory MA (2005). Effect of screening out implausible energy intake reports on relationships between diet and BMI. Obes Res 13, 1205–1217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2002). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. National Academies Press: Washington, DC.

  • Jacobs Jr DR, Meyer HE, Solvoll K (2001). Reduced mortality among whole grain bread eaters in men and women in the Norwegian county study. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 137–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs Jr DR, Meyer KA, Kushi LH, Folsom AR (1998). Whole-grain intake may reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease death in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women's Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr 68, 248–257.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Ross R (2002). Body mass index, waist circumference, and health risk: evidence in support of current National Institutes of Health guidelines. Arch Intern Med 162, 2074–2079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen MK, Koh-Banerjee P, Hu FB, Franz M, Sampson L, Grønbæk M et al. (2004). Intakes of whole grains, bran, and germ and the risk of coronary heart disease in men. Am J Clin Nutr 80, 1492–1499.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones AR, Hepples ML, Coulson J, Kuznesof S, Richardson DP, Seal CJ (2004). Increased wholegrain food consumption and indicators of adiposity: preliminary results from the CHEW-IT study. Proc Nutr Soc 63, 70A (abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagawa M, Kerr D, Uchida H, Binns CW (2006). Differences in the relationship between BMI and percentage body fat between Japanese and Australian–Caucasian young men. Br J Nutr 95, 1002–1007.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koh-Banerjee P, Franz M, Sampson L, Liu S, Jacobs Jr DR, Spiegelman D et al. (2004). Changes in whole-grain, bran, and cereal fiber consumption in relation to 8-y weight gain among men. Am J Clin Nutr 80, 1237–1245.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koh-Banerjee P, Rimm EB (2003). Whole grain consumption and weight gain: a review of the epidemiological evidence, potential mechanisms and opportunities for future research. Proc Nutr Soc 62, 25–29.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lean MEJ, Han TS, Morrison CE (1995). Waist circumference as a measure for indicating need for weight management. BMJ 311, 158–161.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lei SF, Liu MY, Chen XD, Deng FY, Lv JH, Jian WX et al. (2006). Relationship of total body fatness and five anthropometric indices in Chinese aged 20–40 years: different effects of age and gender. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 511–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liese AD, Roach AK, Sparks KC, Marquart L, D’Agostino Jr RB, Mayer-Davis EJ (2003). Whole-grain intake and insulin sensitivity: the insulin resistance atherosclerosis study. Am J Clin Nutr 78, 965–971.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Stampfer HJ, Hu FB, Giovannucci E, Rimm E, Manson JE et al. (1999). Whole-grain consumption and risk of coronary heart disease: results from the nurses’ health study. Am J Clin Nutr 70, 412–419.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Willett WC, Manson JE, Hu FB, Rosner B, Colditz G (2003). Relation between changes in intakes of dietary fiber and grain products and changes in weight and development of obesity among middle-aged women. Am J Clin Nutr 78, 920–927.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McKeown NM, Meigs JB, Liu S, Wilson PW, Jacques PF (2002). Whole-grain intake is favourably associated with metabolic risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the Framingham offspring study. Am J Clin Nutr 78, 390–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montonen J, Knekt P, Järvinen R, Aromaa A, Reunanen A (2003). Whole-grain and fiber intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Am J Clin Nutr 77, 622–629.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Movsesyan L, Tanko LB, Larsen PJ, Christiansen C, Svendsen OL (2003). Variations in percentage of body fat within different BMI groups in young, middle-aged and old women. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging 23, 130–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nevill AM, Stewart AD, Olds T, Holder R (2006). Relationship between adiposity and body size reveals limitations of BMI. Am J Phys Anthropol 129, 151–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newby PK, Muller D, Hallfrisch J, Qiao N, Andres R, Tucker K (2003). Dietary patterns and changes in body mass index and waist circumference in adults. Am J Clin Nutr 77, 1417–1425.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paul AA, Southgate DAT (1985). McCance and Widdowson's the Composition of Foods, 4th revised edn. HMSO: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prentice AM, Jebb SA (2001). Beyond body mass index. Obes Rev 2, 141–147.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruston D, Hoare J, Henderson L, Gregory J, Bates CJ, Prentice A et al. (2004). The National Diet & Nutrition Survey: Adults Aged 19–64 Years. Vol. 4: Nutritional Status (Anthropometry and Blood Analytes), Blood Pressure and Physical Activity. The Stationery Office: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz M, Nöthlings U, Hoffmann K, Bergmann MM, Boeing H (2005). Identification of a food pattern characterized by high-fiber and low-fat food choices associated with low prospective weight change in the EPIC-Potsdam cohort. J Nutr 135, 1183–1189.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slavin J (2004). Whole grains and human health. Nutr Res Rev 17, 99–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slavin J (2005). Dietary fiber and body weight. Nutrition 21, 411–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen LM, Jacobs Jr DR, Stevens J, Shahar E, Carithers T, Folsom AR (2003). Associations of whole-grain, refined-grain, and fruit and vegetable consumption with risks of all-cause mortality and incident coronary artery disease and ischemic stroke: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Am J Clin Nutr 78, 383–390.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thane CW, Jones AR, Stephen AM, Seal CJ, Jebb SA (2007). Comparative whole-grain intake of British adults in 1986–7 and 2000–1. Br J Nutr 97, 987–992.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Togo P, Osler M, Sørensen TIA, Heitmann BL (2001). Food intake patterns and body mass index in observational studies. Int J Obes 25, 1741–1751.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Togo P, Osler M, Sørensen TIA, Heitmann BL (2004). A longitudinal study of food intake patterns and obesity in adult Danish men and women. Int J Obes 28, 583–593.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Agriculture (2007). Pyramid servings database for USDA survey codes version 1.0. Available at http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/cnrg/services/flarchive.html (accessed April 2007).

  • US Department of Health and Human Sciences and US Department of Agriculture (2005). Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005, 6th edn. US Government Printing Office: Washington, DC.

  • van de Vijver LPL, van den Brandt PA, Goldbohm RA (2005). Whole grain consumption, dietary fibre intake and body mass index in the Netherlands cohort study. Ann Nutr Metab 49 (Suppl 1), 316 (abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Visscher TLS, Seidell JC, Molarius A, van der Kuip D, Hofman A, Witteman JCM (2001). A comparison of body mass index, waist–hip ratio and waist circumference as predictors of all-cause mortality among the elderly: the Rotterdam study. Int J Obes 25, 1730–1735.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Hu FB (2005). Comparison of abdominal adiposity and overall obesity in predicting risk of type 2 diabetes among men. Am J Clin Nutr 81, 555–563.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wei M, Gaskill SP, Haffner SM, Stern MP (1997). Waist circumference as the best predictor of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) compared to body mass index, waist/hip ratio and other anthropometric measurements in Mexican Americans—a 7-year prospective study. Obes Res 5, 16–23.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whole Grains Council (2007). Definition of Whole Grain. Whole Grains Council: Boston, MA, USA www.wholegrainscouncil.org/consumerdef.html (accessed April 2007).

  • World Health Organization (2000). Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series, No. 894. World Health Organization: Geneva.

  • Zhu S, Heshka S, Wang Z, Shen W, Allison D, Ross R et al. (2004). Combination of BMI and waist circumference for identifying cardiovascular risk factors in whites. Obes Res 12, 633–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Cereal Partners UK and the Medical Research Council. We thank Dr Angela Jones and Dr Christopher Seal of Newcastle University for providing information on the whole-grain content of many foods, Dr Adrian Mander of MRC Human Nutrition Research for providing helpful comments on some statistical matters of this paper and the UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK for providing electronic copies of datasets for the two surveys and for granting permission for this analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Human Nutrition Research, Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, Cambridge, UK

    C W Thane, A M Stephen & S A Jebb

Authors
  1. C W Thane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A M Stephen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S A Jebb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C W Thane.

Additional information

Guarantor: SA Jebb.

Contributors: CWT originated the study, conducted the data analysis and interpretation, and drafted the manuscript. AMS and SAJ developed the study, and contributed to manuscript preparation and data interpretation. All contributors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Thane, C., Stephen, A. & Jebb, S. Whole grains and adiposity: little association among British adults. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 229–237 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602911

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602911

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links