Helping industry to deliver the benefits of whole grains in foods

Nutrition experts and healthcare professionals recommend increasing the amount of whole grain foods in our diets. IGD set up a working group in 2006 to recommend minimum levels of whole grain content for food and drink products.
 

Why whole grain foods are good

There is evidence to suggest that regular consumption of whole grain cereals may have a role in the prevention of chronic diseases such as:

• Coronary Heart Disease
• Diabetes
• Colorectal cancer

People who consume diets rich in whole grains seem to have a lower incidence of these chronic diseases. The exact mechanisms through which these benefits occur are not clear.

Whole grain foods are a valuable source of fibre, and micronutrients, and they contain a variety of phytochemicals. Many of these are lost during processing.
 

What are whole grains?

Whole grain generally refers to the entire edible grain (including the germ, endosperm and bran) from cereals and related plants

Examples of whole grain sources (this list is not exhaustive):

• Amaranth
• Barley, including hull-less or naked barley but not pearled
• Buckwheat
• Maize
• Millet
• Oats, including hull-less or naked oats
• Quinoa
• Rye
• Sorghum (also called milo)
• Teff
• Triticale
• Unpolished rice, including brown and wild rice
• Wheat, including club, common wheat, durum wheat, einkorn, emmer, faro, Kamut®, spelt

IGD and Wholegrain
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