Promotion of Whole Grain Consumption for Health in Australia

Abstract

As a professional in the grains industry, how many days a week do you stop and count the number of servings of whole grain foods you have eaten that day? You may do so once a week, and as grains industry professionals you are more often than not thinking about grains and grain-based foods every day. So how do we communicate to the community to eat at least half your servings of grain foods as whole grains and have them embrace whole grain foods every day? This paper presents an overview of the work of the Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council (GLNC) in Australia, the independent voice for grains in nutrition and health. To set the scene, Australians eat more cereal and cerealbased foods than any other food group (1). In fact, we eat more than 21 billion servings a year, which are worth close to A$7 billion at the retail level. Over 80% of these foods are wheatbased. The Australian Dietary Guidelines (7) and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (2) recommend, “Eat plenty of cereals—breads, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, ‘preferably wholegrain.’” Males and females should eat at least four servings of cereals a day. In Australia, a serving of grain food is • 2 slices of bread • 1/2 cup muesli • 1 cup porridge • 11/3 cups of breakfast cereal or 2 wheat flake biscuits • 1 cup cooked rice, noodles, or pasta For simple messaging we term breads, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, and noodles as “core” grain foods, and those foods containing higher levels of saturated fat, added sugar, and salt as “extra foods” or “non-core” grain foods. Australian national nutrition surveys confirm grain based foods are primary contributors of fiber, thiamine, folate, magnesium, and iron (1,3). In fact, Australians get more fiber from grain foods than they do from fruit and vegetables. The Dietary Guidelines tell us how much grain we should be eating each day, but how much are Australians actually eating? In the absence of recent national nutrition survey data, GLNC conducted a study to understand attitudes and behaviors towards grain foods in 2009 and 2011 (8). The results (Table I) show that in 2011 Australians were not eating enough core grain foods or whole grain foods and there was a significant decrease in intake from 2009 to 2011. Correspondingly, there was a significant increase in intake of noncore grain foods. The attitudinal questions uncovered misconceptions and a general lack of knowledge about grain foods which GLNC has hypothesized contributed to the decline in consumption from 2009 to 2011. The primary contributors were: • lack of awareness of the health benefits of grains and the importance of grain foods in the diet • the limiting of grain foods to assist with weight loss • the limiting or avoidance of wheat based foods Counter to this feedback, Australians said whole grain messaging was compelling at the point of purchase: 62% of Australians said they would be more likely to purchase a product that mentioned whole grains on the pack. When you analyze the headlines in the print and electronic media, there are a number of conflicting views being presented by “experts.” The benefits of whole grains in the diet are the most prevalent; however, these important messages are competing with negative messages on gluten, carbohydrates, and specific diets such as the Paleo Diet. It is not hard to understand why Australians are confused and hold a number of misconceptions.