The call to encourage four serves of grain foods a day, including two containing whole grains, was heard in Sydney yesterday at the Go Grains Health & Nutrition first annual conference.

Keynote speaker at the conference, Professor Chris Seal, from Newcastle University, UK, said the consensus view of scientists worldwide was that the evidence clearly shows the link between wholegrain consumption and reduced disease risk.

"Make half of them (grains consumed) whole is the key message," Mr Seal said.

"The strongest relationship between wholegrains and health has been found for cardiovascular disease (CVD), where the risk of developing CVD can be reduced by 20-40pc with adequate daily consumption of wholegrains.

"Reductions in risk for some cancers are of a similar magnitude.

"This evidence is a wake-up call for countries to develop dietary recommendations for wholegrain–intake."

Australian dietary guidelines recommend that people eat plenty of cereals, including breads, rice, pasta and noodles, and preferably wholegrain.

But experts say many Australians are not eating the recommended four or more daily serves of the core grain-based foods and risk missing out on the essential nutrients and health benefits they provide.

Professor Peter Williams, School of Health Science, University of Wollongong, told the conference there was also strong evidence that a diet high in wholegrains was associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

Professor Linda Tapsell, Director of the Smart Foods Centre, University of Wollongong, also presented facts about wholegrains and diabetes.

She said there was strong evidence that wholegrains and cereal fibre are beneficial in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and this was now being confirmed through intervention studies.