Superfoods: A daily bowl of quinoa to live longer?

AN apple a day to keep the doctor away is so passe.

Now, in news that will make the superfoodies tremble in their Birkenstocks, if you want to thrive a daily bowl of quinoa (keen-wah) could keep you alive.

A new study by Harvard Public School of Health has found that eating a daily bowl of the protein-packed, gluten-free grain significantly reduces the risk of premature death from cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease and diabetes.

The researchers followed the diets and health of 367,442 healthy adults over 14 years.

They found that those who ate 34 grams of whole grains – like quinoa – every day reduced their risk of premature death by 17 per cent.

This was even after controlling for differences in age, body mass, smoking and physical activity.

"Our study indicates that intake of whole grains and cereal fibre may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and death from chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory disease," Study leader Dr Lu Qi said.

"Our findings should motivate future studies especially clinical trials and experimental studies to further testify the beneficial effects of whole grains and potential effective components such as fibre and other nutrients, and explore mechanisms."

The germ, bran and endosperm remain intact in whole grains, unlike the refined grains that make white flour, pasta and white rice.

With 25 per cent more protein, whole grains are also a more abundant source of dietary fibre and other nutrients, like zinc, copper, manganese, iron and thiamine.

These nutrients, the authors said, have shown beneficial effects on human health including improvement of weight loss, insulin sensitivity, and lipid profile, as well as inhibition of systemic inflammation.

The study, the largest in size regarding deaths in a prospective setting, found that the most likely benefit comes from the fibre in the grain.

This makes sense.

One new study found that for weight loss, insulin resistance and blood pressure, fibre is the one thing we should all eat more of.

Most Australians adults consume less than half the recommended four to six daily serves of wholegrain foods.

The Age