Going Against the Grain
The Health Benefits of Wholegrain Foods are Too Important to Ignore
Brown bread is said to be better for you...but is this just market hype or sound nutritional advice? It depends what you mean by "brown bread" - which is not always what it seems. The implication is that it contains wholemeal flour, but how much? A quick look at the food labelling reveals a wide range, from a sprinkling of whole grains to a robust 100%, but the latter is very heavy going, even if it is stuffed full of nutrients!
A Closer Look
What is the nutritional low-down on brown versus white bread? Four medium-sized slices (100g) of brown wholemeal bread contains:
- 220 kcals of energy,
- 40% water,
- 9g of protein,
- 40g of starch,
- 2.5g of fat,
- 1g of salt,
- lots of minerals - including 2.5mg of iron
- a good spread of B vitamins - as well as folic acid and vitamin E.
By comparison, depending on the brand, the same amount of soft white bread contains:
- less protein and fat,
- less vitamin B3 and vitamin E,
- less folic acid and iron,
- less fibre,
- more starch
- similar amounts of all other nutrients, including salt (1).
An Expert's View
There is more to wholemeal bread than meets the eye, according to Lynne Garton, Editor of Complete Nutrition Magazine (2). Wholemeal products should contain whole grains which include wheat, rice and maize, together with barley, oats, millet and sorghum, all of which are highly cultivated members of the grass family Gramineae. In addition, non-cereal grains such as amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat qualify - assuming nothing is lost during milling. The structure of wholegrains provides the explanation. Removing the outer case or bran of the seed takes away a significant quantity of useful nutrients - as listed above.
However, many people prefer to eat white refined flour which consists mainly of the starchy endosperm portion of the grain. By law, bread producers have to add the missing nutrients after the milling process, a manouevre which often escapes the attention of consumers. Restoring the iron content for example, involves adding ferrous sulphate (used in iron supplements) or finely divided metallic iron, which can be extracted with the help of a household magnet if you want to entertain your guests at breakfast time...
Health Benefits
Originally it was thought that whole grains were beneficial by virtue of their bran content (3), but the fibre content varies considerably (e.g. whole-wheat contains 12% bran and brown rice only 2%). It seems likely that a cocktail of ingredients including antioxidants, soluble fibre, essential fatty acids, plant sterols, resistant starch and magnesium interact to contribute towards a range of benefits including:
- improved heart health
- weight management
- diabetes
- cancer prevention (4)
Once again, the message is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, a line of argument which often cuts across the logic of clinical trials, but finds favour with nutritionists and the food industry, who have to work together to provide a workable interface for public health nutrition where there is an increasing interest in the use of wholegrains as a way of losing weight.
Recommended Intakes
There is no shortage of advice in this area, with the Food Standards Agency, National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), World Cancer Research Fund, World Health Organisation and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) all providing guidelines. The latter recommends 3 or more portions (3 x 16g) per day based on the following servings, all of which contain at least 16g of whole grains.
- 1 slice of wholemeal bread
- 1 small wholemeal roll
- 2 tablespoons boiled brown rice
- 3 tablespoons boiled wholegrain pasta
- 2 whole grain rice or rye cakes
- 1 serving of most whole grain breakfast cereals- such as Shredded Wheat, Weetabix or Shreddies.
What’s the Problem?
Faced with such robust advice, we all ought to be sinking our teeth into those beautiful brown baps without hesitation, but within the UK, we consume on average less than 1 serving of whole grains per day and 29% of users consume none at all (5). Possible reasons include:
- Difficulty in identifying wholegrain foods
- Poor knowledge regarding the preparation of wholegrain foods
- Limited variety and availability
- Lack of knowledge of health benefits
- Taste and palatability
- The image of "healthy wholegrains" as a cult food for the minority.
The significance of the last two points must not be underestimated. Let’s face it, you can have too much of a good thing. Cucumber sandwiches and soft white bread were somehow made for each other... Anything else would be simply going against the grain.
References
- Food Standards Agency (2002) The Composition of Foods. Royal Society of Chemistry.
- Garton L. (2009) Complete Nutrition Magazine. Complete Media & Marketing Ltd. Hertford UK.
- USDA (2009) National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
- Jacobs D et al. (1998) Nutrition and Cancer 30; p 85-96.
- Thane C. et al. (2007). British Journal of Nutrition; 94 (5) p825-31.
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