What’s a Whole Grain?

By Tim Scallon, M.S. R.D. L.D.

 

Director of the Horace C.  Polk Jr. Regional Diabetes Center and

Department of Clinical Nutrition at Memorial Health System of East Texas

 

New cases of type 2 diabetes have doubled during the last 30 years.  The reason for this increase involves many factors including increased rates of overweight and obesity, reduced activity, and a diet that is low in fiber, high in sweets and high in calories.

 

It is estimated that 80% of Americans eat whole grains less than once a day.  If whole grains are so healthy, then why don’t we eat them more often?  One problem is that many people do not know what a whole grain is.  All grain products – wheat, rice, oats, corn – go through various stages of processing to get them from the field and into your supermarket.  The level of processing or refining is where the grain ceases to become whole. 

 

The term refers to the kernel or grain itself.  When wheat is refined, the outer layers of bran are removed leaving the white starchy inner grain.  This milled grain produces a fine, white flour that is ideal for baking.  The problem is that many of the nutrients – the “whole” package if you will is no longer present.  Of 15 nutrients present in wheat, 9 of them lose more than 50% of the original content after processing into white flour. 1  Whole grains by definition are grains that still contain the respective amounts of bran and nutrients in the final product.

 

The challenge is in weeding through product packaging to find whole grains.  The bread is whole grain if the front label says: whole grain, or whole wheat.   It's mostly refined grain if the front label says: cracked wheat, made with whole grain, made with whole wheat, multi-grain, oat bran, oatmeal, pumpernickel, rye, seven-bran, 12-bran, etc., seven-grain, nine-grain, etc., stoned wheat, wheat, wheatberry, whole bran.  Choose a cereal that has more than 5 grams of fiber per serving and that lists whole grains at the top of the ingredient label. 

 

Our recipes this month include brown rice – always a better choice than white.  One cup of brown rice has 3 ½ grams of fiber while the same amount of white rice has less than one gram of fiber.  While this doesn’t sound like a big difference, we find fiber in small amounts in many plant foods and every serving is essential in helping to reach our 30 gram per day target.

 

So why do whole grains lower my risk for diabetes?  Fiber slows digestion.  When it takes longer to digest the meal, you body secrets less insulin.  The lower levels of insulin keep our cells from becoming resistant and this keeps us from having high blood sugars.  Other nutrients in the whole grain such as magnesium may also play a role in protecting against diabetes.

 

There are three aisles in the grocery store where you will find high fiber choices – the bread aisle, the cereal aisle, and the rice and bean aisle.  Learn to identify the high fiber foods on these aisles and you will be taking an important step in improving your diet and health.