Whole truth about whole grains

According to survey conducted by the American Dietetic Association in 2011 about 48% of asked consumers indicated that they started eating more whole grain foods. It’s sounds like a great news isn’t it? Whole grains are hot these days. Healthy food awareness is rising. We are reading labels when buying food and chose the ones that has words like “good source”, “multigrain”, “made with the whole wheat” etc.

But what does these words really mean? Let’s examine them.

First of all, we have to understand that regulations about using such words are pretty loose in US. The producers can put claim their product as whole grain if it contains at least 51% of whole grain, which is by the way, considered to be 8g per serving.

Would you buy the same bread if it would say “51% whole grain bread” or even “64% whole grain pasta”? The truth is that the producers don’t have to show the numbers on a package. And in our mind “whole grain” sounds like “100% whole grain, when in reality it’s far from it. In most cases other 49% are filled with not very healthy stuff like refined, enriched or unbleached wheat or rice flour, soy products, dough conditioners, extra gluten, lecithin, emulsifiers just to name few.

It’s also true of products that have “the good source of whole grain” and “rich in whole grain” on the box. Usually a serving of many foods weights 30 to 55g (1-2 ounces). Let’s do simple math. 8g out of 55g are just 15%. That means that “good source” “whole grain” foods could be as much as 85% refined grain! So, unless it says 100% whole grain, you have to really check what the product consists of.

And by the way “100% whole grain” according to contemporary regulations means that serving has 16g of whole grains.

What about “multigrain” and “whole grain blends” claims?

“Multi” just mean “many” and it also can be replaced with the number like 5-grains, 7 or even 12. The product can even have traces of all this different grains, but that doesn’t necessary mean that they are whole. It doesn’t matter if you are getting 5, 7, 12 or even 32 grains, because they are mostly refined.

Now to the blends. It’s a very smart move in the marketing strategies. Because usually “Whole grain” is written in a big print and “blend” in a small one. And you get what you get a blend. It can consist of refined flour and some wheat bran or wheat fiber tossed in. And really a blend can be anything in the range from mostly refined flour to half and half. If you look hard you can probably find the percentage of whole grains in small print on the back of the box.

It feels like unless you make your own food you can't be sure that it's really wholesome and healthy. It’s kinda sad. Isn’t it?