Go with the (whole) grain to eat well

As the playwright Tom Stoppard once said, “We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.” When it comes to whole grains, dishing them out by the bucket’s the smart move.

A new study headed by the National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark shows that exchanging refined and processed grains — white rice, white bread and pastas — for whole grains has two far-reaching health benefits:

1. They promote weight loss by filling you up and keeping you full longer.

2. They slash low-level, bodywide inflammation. That reduces your risk of everything from cardiovascular disease to depression and some cancers.

Tracking 60 participants at risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, the researchers found that all whole grains had benefits, but whole-grain rye was particularly effective in reducing markers of lowgrade, chronic inflammation. Other surprises: Over two eight-week periods, researchers found that whole grains did not measurably alter gut biome composition or insulin sensitivity. It may be that those changes take longer to happen, so keep good grains center stage and go with 100 percent whole wheat, rye, oats, sorghum, barley, buckwheat and corn.

Driving under the influence — of your meds!

It turns out many folks have no idea that their prescription medications make driving dangerous and put them at risk for a DUI arrest.

A 2017 study looked at data from the 2013-2014 National Roadside Survey, in which drivers across America were asked about drug use, including prescription drugs. Almost 20 percent said they’d recently taken a prescription medication and yet were unaware the medication could affect their driving. And a 2015 study found that the prevalence of drivers with prescription opioids in their systems at the time of death from a car accident surged from 1 percent in 1995 to 7.2 percent in 2015.

Opioids are a big risk when you’re driving (around 35 percent of adult Americans were given a painkiller prescription by medical providers last year). So are meds like antidepressants, sedative hypnotics (including diazepam/valium and others), antihistamines (Benadryl), decongestants, sleeping pills and medical marijuana.

They can compromise your reaction time. So read the warnings on medications and ask your doc about driving risks associated with medications and combinations of medications.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.