Whole grains are cereal grass-based foods that contain substances called complex carbohydrates. When you eat any carbohydrate, it increases your body's supply of a form of sugar called glucose. When glucose levels in your blood rise, you experience a subsequent increase in your blood levels of insulin, a hormone that helps your body use glucose to create energy.
Insulin Basics
Insulin comes from a part of your pancreas called the pancreatic islets. When carbohydrate-derived glucose enters your bloodstream, insulin secreted from these islets follows soon afterward and communicates chemically with certain cells in your body that need this sugar for energy production. After receiving insulin's signals, these cells --- which are found in locations that include your fatty tissue, muscles and your bloodstream --- pull the glucose they need into their interiors. Insulin also tells cells in your liver to take the excess glucose in your blood and store it for future use in the form of a substance called glycogen.
Whole Grain Consumption
Whole grains are considered healthy carbohydrates, according to the Harvard School of Public Health and MayoClinic.com. While they elevate your blood glucose and insulin levels to a certain degree, they also provide your body with nutrients that include the B vitamin folate, vitamin E and the minerals copper, selenium, magnesium, potassium and manganese.
Whole grains also contain a form of dietary fiber that speeds the passage of stool through your colon and reduces your risks for constipation and a colon disorder called diverticulosis, which can lead to a more serious colon disorder called diverticulitis. Along with groups of compounds in whole grains that include flavonoids, phytoestrogens, phytosterols and lignans, fiber belongs to a class of health-supporting substances called phytochemicals.
Insulin-Related Benefits
Regular consumption of whole grains can improve your body's ability to use insulin properly and help prevent the onset of a condition called insulin resistance, the Linus Pauling Institute reports. People with insulin resistance have a reduced sensitivity to insulin's normal effects; in turn, this lowered sensitivity significantly increases the risks for the onset of the blood glucose control disorder called Type 2 diabetes. While doctors can't say definitively that whole grains directly prevent Type 2 diabetes, lowered insulin resistance rates typically translate into fewer cases of the disorder.
Considerations
When whole grains are refined, or processed, for foods such as white bread and pasta, they lose much of their nutrient content. The refining process also makes these products break down relatively rapidly when you eat them, which means their glucose content enters your bloodstream considerably faster than the glucose content of whole grains. As a result, these refined grains also trigger significantly higher amounts of insulin secretion. If you habitually consume lots of refined grains, prolonged exposure to accompanying elevations in your glucose and insulin levels may help contribute to the onset of Type 2 diabetes, the Linus Pauling Institute notes.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Whole Grains: Hearty Options for a Healthy Diet; July 2009
- Colorado State University; Physiologic Effects of Insulin; R. Bowen
- EndocrineWeb; Normal Regulation of Blood Glucose; James Norman; March 2009
- Harvard School of Public Health: Health Gains From Whole Grains
- Linus Pauling Institute; Whole Grains; Jane Higdon; December 2005
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