Canadian study seeks to highlight benefits of enriched grain products

26 Apr 2018 --- A new research is planned to enhance the nutritional information available on both whole grain and enriched non-whole grains, such as white bread, bagels and hamburger/hot dog buns. The study hopes to detail the nutritional and health benefits of these foods, which are made from flours enriched with “nutrients, notably folic acid, iron, potassium and calcium, that are typically lost during the milling process,” Dallas Carpenter, Communications Manager at Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, tells NutritionInsight.

The new research project, at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, is funded jointly by the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Alberta Wheat Commission. It utilized the recently released 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) data and aims to provide better guidance to Canadians and policymakers on the contribution of both whole and enriched non-whole grains to the diet.

White bread products typically have a reputation of being lower in nutrients than their whole-grain counterparts, but Carpenter states that, “We are confident the results of this project will show that including non-whole grain based products is important to a healthy, balanced diet and that they provide key nutritional benefits to those who consume them.”

“We want to ensure that consumers and policymakers have the best information available to them,” adds Laura Reiter, Sask Wheat Chair, who farms near Radisson, Saskatchewan.

“Evidence from other countries has shown that foods made from both whole grain and enriched non-whole grains provide nutritional and health benefits to those who included these foods in their diets. We need this research done here to help Canadians make informed decisions that will benefit their health and well-being.”

Canada's Food Guide
Canada‘s Food Guide is currently undergoing a revision and, it has been said, that Health Canada is proposing that Canadians should increase their dietary intake of whole grain foods and decrease their consumption of foods made with enriched non-whole grains.

However, in light of recent studies from outside of Canada that have found that enriched non-whole grain foods contribute to quality nutrient intake levels in children and adults, the researchers hope this study will shed similar light and in turn, influence the Canadian Food Guide.

In this way, they hope that the study will have positive repercussions regarding consumers, policymakers and better health and nutrition information on the consumption of all grain-based foods, while also providing benefits to the Canadian farmers who produce the grain.

“There is a significant amount of misinformation on diets and nutrition that is readily available, which makes university-based studies such as this one so valuable, ” adds Carpenter.

One example study, published in Nutrients, identified that among other factors, encouraging the consumption of enriched grain products, while also consuming whole grain products, improved overall nutrient intake in US children and adolescents.

“Ontario farmers grow high-quality nutritious wheat that goes into a number of refined, enriched grain-based foods. This project, and the information generated from it, will allow Canadian consumers to continue to make well-informed, science-based decisions on their food choices,” says Markus Haerle, Chairman, Grain Farmers of Ontario.

The results of the project are expected to become available in mid-2018 or into 2020.

By Laxmi Haigh

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