New FDA guidelines define ‘whole-grain’ foods

WASHINGTON – For the first time, the federal government on Wednesday issued an official definition of whole-grain foods. The long-awaited nutritional guidance is designed to help consumers sort through a confusing – and sometimes misleading – array of foods that purport to contain whole grains but often do not.

Federal Dietary Guidelines issued last year recommend that Americans eat at least three one-ounce servings of whole grains daily, as they are proven to help cut heart disease and cancer risk. But until now, there has been no official definition of whole grains and no easy way for consumers to know that cracked wheat, stone-ground wheat, ordinary wheat flour and many other seemingly whole-grain ingredients are not the real thing.

Under the draft guidelines issued Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration, whole-grain foods should contain the three key ingredients of cereal grains – bran (the fiber-filled outer part of the kernel), endosperm (the inner part) and the germ (the heart of the kernel) – in the same relative proportion as they exist naturally.