Captain Ahab’s BodyBlog

 Having whole grains in a person’s diet has long been associated with a reduced risk of cardio vascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, and when it comes to whole grains or any foods made from whole grains they should contain all three components of the original grain kernel, which are the bran, germ and endosperm.
Typically when manufacturers are refining grains that process ends up removing a lot of the good parts from the whole grain, which are the bran and germ resulting in a loss of beneficial dietary fiber, B vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
When it comes to the labeling of grain products the manufacturers can be and many are guilty of being a little, how shall I put this, of yes… deceitful, and that is why it is best to not only educate yourself about the process but also to take the time to read labels. An example of why it pays to read labels and an illustration of what some companies will do is in one company’s brown bread, which they made with refined totally white flour and just so you thought that you were actually getting something nutritious they turned the white flour brown with the addition of molasses which they sold as brown bread. So just because bread is brown does not mean it is made with whole grains.
Grain products labeled “multi-grain,” “wheat flour,” “stone ground,” “100 per cent wheat,” “seven grain” and even “cracked wheat” can be and usually are Madison Avenue marketing words designed to make us think that we are getting something nutritious, but the products in question are usually not whole grain products but rather a marketer’s trick to make you think it is a whole grain food. Wheat flour is used to make most white breads and multi-grain just means a variety of grains are used in the product.
When looking for and choosing wholesome, whole grains make sure to look for the word “whole,” it should appear before the grain ingredients name. For example, the first ingredient in a whole-grain cereal might be whole oat flour and a good quality brown bread should be made with 100% whole-wheat flour.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.