Rank Hovis News

13 May, 2009
Wholegrain Information

Rank Hovis, with the help of our expert nutritionists’ have put together some detailed information for our customers regarding ‘wholegrain’ and the health benefits; we hope you find this useful.

There is also some information within our Wholegrain Benefits area within the Healthy Living section on our website.

There is evidence that shows there is a link between the intake of Wholegrain, Wholegrain foods and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. This led to the Joint Health Claim Initiative to approve the following claim in 2002:

"People with a healthy heart tend to eat more wholegrain foods as part of a healthy lifestyle."

To be able to use this claim on your products the food must contain 51% or more Wholegrain ingredients by weight.

The term ‘Wholegrain’ refers to the major cereal grains including wheat, rice, maize and oats. The structure for all grains is similar and made up of three components, although it must be in proportion to the original grain:

• endosperm
• germ
• brand

USA Today!

In the US, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend an intake of 48g of Wholegrain per day, or in 3 16g portions throughout the day.

This led to the Whole Grains Council, a non-profit consumer advocacy group working to increase consumption of Wholegrains for a better health, to create a program for labelling products. The industry was encouraged to label their products which contained a minimum of 8g of Wholegrain per serving. So awareness is growing in the US.

However, the correlation between Wholegrain and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease still hasn’t been fully established. Which is why, over here, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) hasn’t got any guidance on Wholegrain consumption. The only recommendation that stands is:

"Starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes are a really important part of a healthy diet; try to choose Wholegrain varieties wherever you can."

There is no official recommendation in the UK

Defining Wholegrain is still an on-going debate. In the US the 1999 AACCI (American Association of Cereal Chemists International) definition is widely followed:

"Wholegrains shall consist of the intact, ground, cracked or flaked caryopsis, whose principal anatomical components – the starchy endosperm, germ and bran - are present in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact caryopsis."

All very scientific! But more work is needed and a standing committee are working to establish this subject further.

In Europe there is no consensus, so the EU funded Healthgrain project looking at ‘Exploiting Bioactivity of European Cereal Grains for Improved Nutrition and Health Benefits’ will be adding to the debate.

In the UK, the IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) have developed guidelines on the definition to recommended minimum levels of Wholegrain content for food and drink products, in respect of what can be proclaimed.

Fear not, the EU regulation 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims might help to clear part of the debate when Article 13, health claims list is published in 2010!

But until then, Rank Hovis, Premier Foods and the important people who helped to bring this information to your attention are actively working to help resolve this issue and educate our customers.

Links:

http://www.aaccnet.org/definitions/wholegrain.asp http://www.healthgrain.org/

IGD and wholegrain

http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1&fid=5&sid=42&tid=68
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2007/l_012/l_01220070118en00030018.pdf

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