Gettting The Whole Gain?

White bread and whole milk. For years, I lived on these, always steering clear of the other variations. But recently, my mother convinced me to make a change. Now, whether at Stop & Shop or ordering a sub during lunch hour, I almost always choose whole grain bread and skim milk. My mom must be paying attention to the news.

This past week, I noticed a huge volume of whole grain related articles popping up in my Google alerts. While this isn't a new topic, there has been recent debate regarding what actually constitutes whole grain. The FDA defines whole grain for everyone in a February 16 article from the Washington Post titled "FDA offers guidance on whole-grain food" by Sally Squires. Within the article is the FDA definition of whole grain. It is also below.

Under the draft guidelines issued Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration,
whole-grain foods should contain the three key ingredients of cereal grains:
bran (the fiber-filled outer part of the kernel), endosperm (the inner part and
usually all that is left in most processed grains), and the germ (the heart of
the grain kernel).

On the same day, Sonia Reyes wrote in Brandweek a piece called "Whole or Not? Food Makers Try To Define Grains." The Whole grains good for the diabetic heart" in the Health and Fitness section of February 13th edition of "The Sunday Morning Herald."

Again on monstersandcritics.com, a February 17 consumer health story titled "Eat To Live: Know your whole grains" by Julia Watson explores the importance of whole grains and how different grain labels have confused consumers. This article, like those above, mentions the different labels, such as "multi-grain" and "seven-grain" that really are not the same as whole grain.

This recent influx of information should help all consumers avoid the false advertising of whole grains that still exists.