HHS HealthBeat (March 08, 2007)

The heart and a bowl of cereal

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Your breakfast might help your heart be healthy. Researchers say people who ate whole grain breakfast cereal had a lower risk of heart failure, which is when the heart can't pump enough blood.

Luc Djoussé of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital says people who ate a bowl a day had a 28 percent reduction in their risk. Those who had a bowl a week still had a 14 percent reduction.

The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, was featured at an American Heart Association conference on understanding and preventing heart disease.

Djoussé says it's the whole grains part, not the fact that it's cereal, that counts.

"A high consumption of whole grain products in general - not just cereal - would be beneficial in helping reduce the risk of heart failure." (8 seconds)

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 09 2007