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GROWING WITH THE GRAIN
Nutritionist recognizes the barriers consumers face in eating whole grains.
Eating food with whole grains is associated with lower rates of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Even with these
proven health benefits, the average person does not come close to eating the recommended number of servings of true whole
grains a day.
The 2006 Food Pyramid recommends "making half your grains whole" meaning half of people’s grain choices
come from whole grains. The majority of Americans eat less than one serving of true whole grain a day and 30 percent eat none
at all.
Joyce Bunderson, a Registered Dietitian and founder of Doctor Grandma’s Whole Grain Foods, says the barriers
consumers face with eating whole grains, in part, stems from a lack of knowledge to identify whole grain products. Another
problem adding to the dilemma of meeting daily-recommended whole grain intake is the lack of time Americans take in preparing
meals.
"True whole grains have limited shelf life," Bunderson said. "In order for people to have whole wheat they
frequently need to make it themselves. If you are going to make it yourself, time often becomes a major barrier."
For this reason, Bunderson has started a business called Doctor Grandma’s, which produces whole grain foods.
She has been cooking with whole grains for over 35 years and has created pancake and breakfast cake mixes containing all of
the nutrients found in true whole grain.
A whole grain is made up of three layers - the bran, germ and endosperm. The outer bran layer is full of fiber, B vitamins,
50 to 80 percent of the grain’s minerals, and other phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are compounds in plants that
may protect us from disease. The large endosperm portion is full of complex carbohydrates, protein and smaller amounts of
B vitamins. The third part is the germ, which is full of B Vitamins, Vitamin E, trace minerals, healthy fats and phytonutrients.
If all three parts of the grain are present in a food, it is considered a whole grain. If parts of the grain have been
removed it is considered a refined grain. Whole grains have substantially more nutritional benefit than refined grains.
Most grain products do not contain many vital nutrients because the grain is refined or processed. Manufacturers commonly
enrich their food products with nutrients, but it doesn’t come close to providing the number of nutrients found
in true whole wheat. Refining wheat takes away 25 percent of the grain’s protein and at least 17 key nutrients,
according to the Whole Grains Council, a grain industry group.
"It’s unfortunate for the consumer who is unaware of the marketing tricks many food processors use."
Bunderson said, "The degermed, bran-removed grains are easier to process, ship and store without degradation. Certainly
these highly processed grains do not deliver the benefits of the whole grains."
Consumers already have a hard time recognizing a whole grain from a processed one. To make matters worse, food companies
are going to extreme lengths to trick the buyer into thinking they are buying healthy whole grain food. They do this by adding
burnt sugar or molasses to their products to darken the bread.
Bunderson recommends reading food labels and purchasing products containing 100% whole wheat as opposed to enriched flour.
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