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Nutrition

The whole cereal grain is more informative than cereal fibre

A massive prospective study that assessed the association between consumption of cereals and mortality has concluded that cereal fibre is a component of whole grains that is potentially protective. This focus on cereal fibre is not fully consonant with plant and human biology and might distract from the aspect of most importance in prediction of chronic disease—the whole grain and its myriad bioactive phytochemical constituents.

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Acknowledgements

D.R.J.Jr is funded, in part, by a grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, HL R01 53560.

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Correspondence to David R. Jacobs Jr.

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D.R.J.Jr is a consultant to the California Walnut Commission.

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Jacobs, D. The whole cereal grain is more informative than cereal fibre. Nat Rev Endocrinol 11, 389–390 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.76

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