World Grain - January 2017 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Less 'black and white'
in eating bread

ust a few countries in the advanced
world may be counted by grain-based
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in human nutrition. Indeed, in the United
States as well as in Europe and Australia the
cacophony from self-proclaimed experts has
become damaging enough to prompt steps
by individual companies as well as by national organizations aimed at showing just
how wrong such attacks are. These positive
responses thus far lack the power required to
restore consumer appreciation for the many
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This shortfall results largely from falsehoods that seem beyond belief, except for
their force.
Recently cited as one of the brakes acting to put a lid on the industry's response
is belief that the great nutritional value of
grain-based foods has been proven by studies conducted in the distant past. Indeed, the
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and bread came in America in 1941 when it
was realized that these products offered the
perfect channel for health gains at a time of
encroaching war. Enrichment with iron and
B vitamins became a program deserving of
government mandates when human tests
conducted in isolated areas like Canadian
Newfoundland showed how eating enriched
bread markedly bettered health of children
and adults. So convincing were results meaVXULQJWKHEHQH¿WVRIIRUWL¿HGÀRXUWKDWHQrichment quickly gained global acceptance.
That studies conducted 75 years ago no
longer carry the same power should not be
surprising in light of the way modern-day
\RXWK DUH LQÀXHQFHG E\ WKH QHZHVW ¿QGings about what is best to eat. Watching how
consumption is affected not just by scientifically-approved nutrition studies but also by
VHPLSURIHVVLRQDO ¿QGLQJV DQG ELDVHG SURmotions offers convincing evidence of what
is at work. No better example of this exists
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consumption occurring in the United States
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may be traced to anti-carbohydrate propaganda and marketing. Similarly, promotion

of whole grain products as superior to enriched products is easier to say than to prove.
All too often such assertions, making one
FDWHJRU\ EODFN DQG WKH RWKHU ZKLWH UHÀHFW
ZKDW LV GHVFULEHG DV VFLHQWL¿F ¿QGLQJV UHvealing the health-related outcomes of eating
patterns covered by giant data bases. These
studies fail to acknowledge how problematic
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directed to follow particular patterns. Individual records of consumption frequently
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have culminated in one leading authority declaring that any desired outcome may be had
from examining such data.
Even with all these doubts about the
quality of data obtained from undertaking
such studies, their results are being cited
as the basis for diet recommendations put
forward by Harvard's T.H. Chan School of
Public Health as well as in the deliberations
leading to the federal Dietary Guidelines
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Recommendations that half of grain-based
foods consumed should be whole grains as
well as urging any effort to eat less should
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straw for all those caring about enriched
ÀRXUDQGEUHDG
Reacting to this dismal situation led to
the reality that studies comparing the two
VRUWV RI ÀRXU DUH ODFNLQJ7KH *UDLQ )RRGV
)RXQGDWLRQZKLFKLVVXSSRUWHGE\WKHJUDLQ
based foods industry, did a study happily
showing that people consuming all sorts of
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their diets than those who consume no grainbased foods. Especially important is this
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to urge consumption of all grain-based foods
rather than two categories emphasizing one.
Additional studies are needed to provide a
persuasive base for such an approach. Its
adoption would do so much for grain-based
foods and for all consumers.
Morton I. Sosland
Editor-in-chief

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International Sales Manager Adam Ungashick
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WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 35, issue 1,

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World Grain - January 2017

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