What is Whole Grain?
We often hear a healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Fruits and vegetables are easy to figure out, but what really is a whole grain and how much should you have?
All grains are made up of three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm.
The bran is the outside layer of the grain that protects the tender inside. Due to its hardy shield, the bran is where all the healthy fiber is found. Inside the grain is the germ, which is the grain's powerhouse of nutrients. The germ provides B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate), Vitamin E, minerals (iron, magnesium, and selenium), and some healthy fats. Also inside the grain is the endosperm, which is the carbohydrate layer that also includes the protein gluten.
Food producers often remove the bran and germ due to their tough texture and short shelf life, leaving just the endosperm, which is what health experts call a refined grain. When a grain product is made from a grain that has all three parts, it is considered a whole grain. Here is where it gets tricky:
- For a food package to claim it is whole grain, only some whole grain needs to be present in the food product, and in some cases that is very little.
-Look for a whole grain as the first ingredient on the ingredient list. Brown rice, wild rice, oatmeal, rolled oats, buckwheat, bulgar, graham flour, and quinoa are all whole grains. If a flour is listed, look for the word "whole" before it, for example whole wheat flour, whole oat flour, whole rye flour, and whole barley flour.
-Even better is if all the grains listed in the ingredient list are whole grain and/or the product package states 100% Whole Grain.
Why are whole grains so important to a healthy diet? Diets with whole grains are shown to help reduce cardiovascular risk, manage weight, improve digestive health, provide essential nutrients, and manage blood sugar. Refined grains do NOT have these health benefits and have been associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and increased mortality.
Don't be fooled by enriched or multi-grain. Enriched simply means that after a grain has been refined, food processors add some of the B vitamins and iron back to the grain, but none of the fiber; therefore, they have none of the cardiovascular, digestive, or blood sugar benefits. Multi-grain simply means more than one grain is in the product, but they all could be refined.
That brings us to the question of "what is the difference between whole wheat and whole grain?" The answer is NOTHING! Wheat is just one of the many grains available. There is a long list of grains, wheat being what we are most familiar with and arguably overused here in North America. Other parts of the world rely on grains like rice, oats, millet, farro, barley, rye, quinoa, bulgar, amaranth, teff, and hominy. As it has always been recommended to get a variety of fruits and vegetables, we should also get a variety of whole grains since they all have varying amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and even protein. In my nutrition coaching, I recommend limiting wheat (bread, cereal, pasta, crackers) to just one serving per day and the remainder of the day choose from the list of other whole grains. For additional variety, change things up with the nutrient packed starchy vegetables like legumes, lentils, corn, peas, and white or sweet potatoes.
As for how much whole grain we should have, that depends on your daily calorie budget. If you are an athlete or one of those lucky people with a naturally high metabolism, whole grains are an excellent nutrient-packed source of fuel. If you are not as lucky and have a lower metabolism and/or are trying to watch your weight, then whole grains come with a concentrated calorie price tag and portions may be limited to 3 cups or less per day. In other words, let fruits and vegetables dominate your meals and include whole grains as your side dish.