The whole truth about whole grains

Your favorite bread, cereal, crackers and pasta could be whole-grain wonders -- or merely half-baked. It can be difficult to tell the difference.

In releasing draft guidelines for defining whole grains, the Food and Drug Administration recently moved to make it easier to know what a whole grain is -- and how much amounts to a one-ounce serving. That’s important because nearly half of Americans never eat whole-grain foods, according to government food surveys, even though the 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommend that most adults eat three one-ounce servings daily.

But the new federal definition may still leave the picture a little unclear for consumers. After all, it’s a recommendation, not a regulation.

But choosing with care is worth the effort.

Skip whole grains and you not only miss foods with great flavor -- popcorn, oatmeal, shredded wheat, graham crackers and corn tortillas, to name a few -- you miss out on important protection against heart disease and some types of cancer.

Plus, whole grains could help your waistline, according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report. In one large study, for every 40 grams of whole grains -- roughly equal to adding three servings daily -- body weight decreased in women by about a pound. In another, body mass index was least in those who ate the most whole grains. And in a study that looked at the children of participants of the landmark Framingham Heart Study, those who ate the most whole grains had the lowest body mass index and the smallest waist-to-hip ratios -- important predictors of heart disease, diabetes and risk of obesity.

So what gives whole grains their punch? They’re packed with minerals and vitamins that are good for the heart, the immune system and the blood, and help protect against neural tube defects including spina bifida in newborns. Whole grains are rich in complex carbohydrates, which is less likely to make blood sugar soar.

And the good news is that they’re turning up as ingredients in a growing number of popular foods -- Chips Ahoy, raisin bread, English muffins, Rice-a-Roni, Fig Newtons and some, but not all, Wheat Thins. The challenge, says Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition for Center for Science in the Public Interest, “is you have to know which products are whole grains and which ones aren’t.”

Here’s how you can find more whole grains:

* Eyeball the ingredients label. Look for products that list whole grain as one of the first ingredients. That means whole wheat, whole rye, whole oats, whole corn, whole graham and whole barley. Also, brown rice, wild rice, bulgur, quinoa, sorghum, triticale and amaranth.

* What’s a serving? Here’s where it can get tricky, because of differences in moisture and formulations of various foods. So a slice of whole-wheat bread equals a one-ounce serving, as does one whole-wheat mini bagel, one small whole-corn tortilla or one whole-buckwheat pancake (about 4.5 inches in diameter). Half a whole-wheat English muffin is also a serving, as is half a cup of cooked oatmeal or whole-wheat pasta. Others are three cups of popcorn or five Triscuits or one cup of Cheerios. (Find a complete list of one-ounce equivalents at mypyramid.gov.Click on “Inside the Pyramid,” then on “Grains” and then on “What counts as an ounce?”)

* Fiber and whole grains are not the same. They’re both measured in grams and they’re often found in the same foods, but they’re not interchangeable. So if you eat one cup of 100% bran cereal for breakfast, that’s a smart high-fiber choice, but it’s not whole grain. As part of the new definition, expect to see some food manufacturers tout grams of whole grains on their products. For 100% whole-wheat bread, 16 grams would be considered a one-ounce equivalent.

* Foods that can fool you. De-germinated corn is not a whole grain, which means most corn bread is not made from whole grains. Neither is pearled barley or wheat flour or many products labeled multigrain, cracked wheat and seven-grain. And unless your pizza dough is made entirely from whole-wheat flour, it’s not a whole grain either.

* Look for help from Whole Grain Stamps. They’re issued by the Whole Grains Council, a nonprofit consortium of industry, scientists and chefs. The golden stamps are on more than 600 products that have varying amounts of whole grains.