Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

220 ALICE CALLAHAN, PHD, HEATHER LEONARD, MED, RDN, AND TAMBERLY POWELL, MS, RDN
endosperm as the original grain in order to be called whole grain. Many, but not all, whole
grains are also sources of dietary fiber.”
Whole grains include foods like barley, corn (whole cornmeal and popcorn), oats (including
oatmeal), rye, and wheat. (For a more complete list of whole grains, check out the Whole
Grain Council.)
“Refined Grains—Grains and grain products with the bran and germ removed; any grain
product that is not a whole-grain product. Many refined grains are low in fiber but enriched
with thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron, and fortified with folic acid.”
Refined grains include foods like white rice and white flour. According to the Whole Grain
Council, “Refining a grain removes about a quarter of the protein in a grain, and half to two
thirds or more of a score of nutrients, leaving the grain a mere shadow of its original self.”
Refined grains are often enriched with vitamins and minerals, meaning that some of the
nutrients lost during the refining process are added back in after processing. However, many
vitamins and minerals are not added back, and neither are the fiber, protein, and healthy fats
found in whole grains. In the chart below you can see the differences in essential nutrients
between whole wheat flour, refined wheat flour, and enriched wheat flour.
Figure 4.26. The nutrient content of refined wheat and enriched wheat as compared to whole
wheat flour.
Because whole grains offer greater nutrient density, MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines
recommend that at least half of our grains are whole grains. Yet current data show that while
most Americans are eating enough grains overall, they’re eating too many refined grains and
not enough whole grains, as shown in this graphic from the Dietary Guidelines: