RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

By Julia Watson
Feb 17, 2006, 19:00 GMT

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) — Just one month ago, companies and think tanks thought they had found a way to signal to the confused general public just which foods contain whole grains and what kind they are.

It`s not easy to distinguish between the comparative values of different edible grains or products branded multi-grain, six- or seven-grain or between grains that are cracked, flaked, easy-cook and more. Basically, any cereal grain is a whole grain if it hasn`t had any of its component parts, such as its outer bran layer, removed or processed away. A whole grain may have been flaked, rolled, cracked, ground or turned into a quick-cook grain, but it`s still \’whole\’ so long as it is entire.

To help in untangling this information, a black and gold stamp was designed by the Whole Grains Council and the Oldways Preservation Trust identifying a product as either a \’Good Source\’ — that is, offering a half serving of whole grains, or an \’Excellent Source,\’ meaning a full serving of whole grains. A \’100 Percent Excellent Source\’ stamp signified a full serving of whole grains without any refined grains included.

But while the Food and Drug Administration doesn`t object to a company`s legitimate claims as to its product`s specific whole grains content, it isn`t ready to provide a standard definition of what constitutes an \’excellent\’ or \’good\’ source of whole grains. These were terms the FDA said may be applied to specific nutrients but not to whole grains.

K. Dun Gifford, president of Boston-based Oldways Preservation Trust that created the black-and-gold Whole Grains Council stamps, said this week that the language offered simple descriptions, not scientific health claims, to help consumers bewildered by the clutter of claims in ads and on packages.

But on Feb. 14, the Whole Grains Council and Oldways received a letter from the FDA advising that regarding the Whole Grain Stamps, \’food labels bearing these stamps could be misbranded\’ under various FDA regulations.

At a press conference a day later, the FDA counseled that any determination about the stamps would be made on a case-by-case basis and on the merits of whether the \’Good Source\’ and \’Excellent Source\’ descriptors are \’truthful and not misleading.\’ The nonbinding recommendations were released as a guidance document only and did \’not establish legally enforceable responsibilities.\’ The FDA has not so far asked companies to change their labels.

The agency`s reaction is in response to a letter addressed to it on in December from the Whole Grains Council and Oldways in which it urged, according to Whole Grains Council chairman Jeff Dahlberg, \’the FDA to clarify its position on whole grain labeling, and offered constructive comments on the many issues involved.\’

While the FDA said it was working with the USDA to ensure consistency on whole grain policies, final guidance may not be complete before the end of the fiscal year. It launched a 60-day comment period for further consideration of consumer education programs aimed at helping consumers easily identify genuine whole grain products. And it did sanction the definition developed by the Whole Grains Council, Oldways and the American Association of Cereal Chemists of which grains could be classified as whole grains.

It`s not a storm in a teacup. At present, Americans consume only one serving of whole grains a day. We should be eating three servings of whole grains daily if we want to cut the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Serving sizes are not insurmountable — they weigh roughly one ounce. A single serving might be a slice of whole grain bread, a measuring cup of cold cereal flakes or half a cup of oatmeal.

Personally, I`d pick the bread. I could eat soup and sandwiches exclusively for the rest of my life. Buy good multi-grain bread and subject it to the Jamie Oliver way of making toasted sandwiches which is so smart you wonder why no-one thought of it before.

Instead of slicing his loaf crossways in the conventional manner, he slices it long ways, discarding the first slice of crust. Then he toasts these long slices under the broiler and fills them however he wants — sometimes with a breakfast of bacon, fried egg and tomato — and cuts them in two to share with a chum. Make the filling more healthy and you have a nutritional sandwich plus more than your recommended daily allowance of whole grains besides.