What’s in a healthy diet? Today many people would agree that eating whole grains is part of a nutritious meal.
After all, quinoa, teff, amaranth, and freekeh are some of the latest grains to hit foodie stardom. Whole grains was also the top ingredient American consumers said they look for when buying packaged food, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2015 survey of consumer behavior and attitudes.
Between 2008 and 2010, whole-grain consumption went up more than 23 percent in the United States, according to industry publication Milling & Baking News.
It comes as good news, then, that a recent study confirmed that people who consume lots of whole grains have a lower risk of developing heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancers. They also tend to have better digestive health and a lower body mass index, according to the survey published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society journal.
The authors of the report recommend that these health benefits should be highlighted when promoting whole grains.
But that task is somewhat complicated by lack of a standard definition for what is a whole grain or a whole-grain food product.
