When you go grocery shopping and pick up a loaf of whole grain bread, that sounds like it ought to be really nutritious doesn't it?
Unfortunately, it might not be quite as good as you were hoping. If you look at the labels of breads that are something like "Whole Grain Wheat", you'll likely discover that it doesn't have near nutrients and fiber of bread that's labeled "100% Whole Wheat."
Blame it on marketing ploys. With whole grain foods becoming more popular, the companies are looking to give the consumer what they want... sort of. In other words, if the people buying the bread think it is made with whole grains, that's supposed to push our buttons so we'll buy it. The catch, of course, is while they can put "whole grain" or "wheat" on the label, they aren't saying how much of the product is actually whole grain or wheat. It could be most of it, or it could be they put a tiny bit in there, just enough to be able to say "We used whole wheat flour making this bread."
It might be the last ingredient on the list, the smallest amount of anything put in the bread, but it's still in there, so technically they can say it's made with whole grains!
That's why the 100% Whole Wheat bread has more nutrients, because it is indeed 100% - every bit of the product - whole wheat. If it's labeled 100% whole grain, it has to be whole grain, with no refined grain as part of the ingredient. There can't be any bleached or unbleached white flour hiding in there.
That's the rules, as formulated by the FDA. They consider "whole grain" to include cereal grains that consist of the intact, ground, cracked or flaked fruit of the grains whose principal components -- the starchy endosperm, germ and bran -- are present in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact grain. Such grains may include barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, millet, rice, rye, oats, sorghum, wheat and wild rice.
The Whole Grains Council, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, is trying to make it easier for consumers to see how much grain is in a product. They've made labels for manufacturers to use showing how much whole grain is in their products.
There are two kinds of stamps, the Basic stamp and the 100% stamp. They look a little like a postage stamp, being mostly yellow and brown. There is a sheaf of grain on the stamps, with "WholeGrainsCouncil.org" running up the right side on a black border.
If a product bears the Basic Stamp, it contains at least 8g - a half serving - of whole grain, but may also contain some refined grain. Even if a product contains a large amount of whole grain, it will use the Basic Stamp if it also contains extra bran, germ, or refined flour.
If a product bears the 100% Stamp, then all its grain ingredients are whole grains. For these products, there is a minimum requirement of 16g - a full serving - of whole grain per labeled serving.
Each Stamp also shows a number that tells you how many grams of whole grain ingredients are in a serving of the product.
Since the stamp isn't required, there can still be products out there that are whole grain but don't have one of these handy stamps on the label. In that case, all you can do is check the ingredients list to see if it states how many grams of whole grain are in the product. If it says "100%" you're good to go. If all it says is something like "crackers made with whole grain", be wary. It's only pretending to be a whole grain health food.
Other waffle-words include wheat flour, semolina, durum wheat, organic flour, and multigrain (may describe several whole grains or several refined grains, or a mix of both). None of these specifies a 100% whole grain product.
These words on the label -- enriched flour, degerminated (on corn meal), bran and wheat germ -- are never 100% whole grains. Enriched flour loses most of the nutrients it contained in processing, so a little stuff is thrown back in to "enrich" it and make it sound like a better buy. Why not eat the whole grains to start with?
In short, be careful of tricky labeling. Sometimes labels barely contain a grain of truth.
The bottom line? If you want whole grain foods, look for labels that SAY 100% whole grain, either in the ingredients list or by displaying the 100% whole grain stamp.
And that's the whole grains facts.
By the way, you can learn lots more about healthy foods and making easy changes to make your diet healthier at the http://www.HealthFoodMadeEasy.com site. And discover even more great tips for a healthy diet here right now!
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