As per a new study published by JAMA Oncology last Thursday, regular diet that comprises 40% of whole grains can decrease risk of liver cancer. HCC or Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most virulent type of liver cancer that has been found to be the second death causing cancer type worldwide which is also likely to be the top three cancer type that is likely to cause deaths among US citizens by 2030. According to Dr. Zuehong Zhang at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, his research team based their conclusions on a study conducted on 125,000 patients.
This US based patient study group comprised of 77,241 women and 48,214 men. The researchers found that increase in intake of whole grains cuts down the risk of developing liver cancer and people who consumed large amounts of whole grains had 37% lesser risk of developing HCC when compared to people that ate less of that. This study demonstrated how high diet of bran reduces the risk of liver cancer by 30% while diet of high germ grains like white reduced this risk by 11%.
The researchers declared that if high level of whole grains is incorporated in diet then it circumvents health issues like hyperinsulinemia, inflammation and insulin resistance in the body which are hallmarks of Hepatocellular carcinoma. The patient group’s diet and other habits were closely studied over a period of 24 years and people in the age group of 50–60 years had to answer questions about intake of whole grains and fiber with regard to frequency like never to less than once or twice a month to number of times every day. The article explained that whole grains are essential as they contain bran and germ along with endosperm while refined grains contain only the endosperm so are better sources of selenium, folate, iron, vitamin B and potassium.
