WHOLE GRAINS

There was a text book used in public school that gave reference to the nutritional value of whole grain. This was over 50 years ago, so the details of the experiments are a little fuzzy now. (No, it was not in Latin; I am not that old) Research scientists tried feeding one group of pigeons a diet of whole grain rice and a second group polished rice. The results were visibly significant as I recall. The polished rice diet was disastrous for the unfortunate pigeons selected for the second group.

Now even though I was a pre-teen, this seemed significant. It was, however, just something else that was learned. If this was important and also public-knowledge then surely those who might be effected would react. In those days the rice consumption in North American did not amount to very much of our diet anyway. The only rice we ate was rice pudding with lots of refined sugar and raisins.

I recalled this school exercise the other day as I read of a similar experiment in the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. In these experiments rats were used. One group was fed whole wheat and another white flour.

The whole-wheat group were healthy. The other had tooth decay, were underweight, had skin infections and were irritable. They also did not reproduce.

Nowadays we seldom use white bread; preferring the wide assortment of rye and other whole grain breads that are available at the Farmer's Market. We do use a lot of pasta and polished rice however, so I am sure we are not getting all of the nutrients that were available before the grains were refined. (Why does this word make it sound as if it was an improvement?) I thought that perhaps it was time to look into this subject a little further; so I went to the Internet for more info.

We all know that grains are the seeds of plants. They are a life form and contain the components from which plants begin to grow. The milling process converts the grain into whole-grain flours or refined varieties. Whole-grain flours contain all of the parts of the grain. Refined flours contain only the endosperm; the bran and germ are removed.

After refining they are enriched with thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, iron, (which was previously destroyed) and now folate. Still lacking in refined grain products are the dietary fiber, vitamin E, essential fatty acids, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), pantothenic acid, magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt, and molybdenum that were originally present in the whole grain; antioxidants such as vitamin E and selenium, found naturally in the bran and germ, are usually not added back into refined flours either.

I found a nutritional study where 34,492 Iowa women were evaluated. The group were all aged 55 to 69 years. They filled out a food frequency questionnaire describing their usual diet and how often they ate 127 specific foods. The mean weekly intake of whole-grain foods was only about 1/4 of the total grain products recommended by the Food Guide Pyramid.

Women who reported eating more whole grains were less likely to have hypertension and to eat a diet high in fat and saturated fat. The whole-grain eaters ate less meat and sugar and more fruits and vegetables. After adjusting for these potentially confounding factors and others such as alcohol use, total energy intake, age, and marital status, the results showed a striking inverse association of whole-grain intake with risk of death from heart attack. The risk for heart disease was reduced by about 1/3 in those eating at least 1 serving/day of whole-grain foods compared to those who rarely ate any whole-grain products.

According to the authors of this research report, modifying grain-containing foods to have more whole-grain, could significantly reduce risk for heart disease.

The textures of whole grain breads (particularly the European breads) are wonderful. Like everything in life we acquire our tastes and preferences through repetition and from our youth. You are missing great treats and better health if you are avoiding whole grain products.

Have a nice day.