Now that more people are becoming mindful of the quality of food they are putting into their bodies, it is more important than ever to know the facts. Understand what goes into the food you are eating, know what some of these common grocery store descriptors mean and make sure you are making the best choices possible for your health and longevity.

For better understanding, you need to make informed decisions about your diet, we have put together an introductory guide that explores what grains are, the process of refining grains, how refined grains compare to other common types of grains and how to integrate healthy grains into your everyday life.

The Basics on Grains

To understand the meaning of refined grains, it is vital to have a foundational knowledge of what natural grains are first before they have been modified. Grains are cultivated seeds of grass that are harvested for food. Grains can come in many different sizes, shapes and forms depending on the variety.

For example, a whole grain is comprised of three main elements: the bran, germ and endosperm. Below is an overview of each part of a whole grain.



The Bran: The bran layer is the outermost layer of a grain kernel. The bran portion of the kernel aids in the protection of the seed and provides trace minerals, fiber and B vitamins.

The Germ: The germ is found inside of the grain seed and is the part of the grain that is capable of sprouting a new plant. The germ of the grain helps to provide nourishment and contains oils, vitamins, proteins, minerals and antioxidants.

The Endosperm: The endosperm is the other interior component of the grain. The endosperm is the starchy part of the grain that imparts carbohydrates and protein.

For many people, eating whole grains is an essential part of their diets. These ingredients have long been considered beneficial complex carbohydrates that can provide lasting energy to help you get through the day without feeling drained.

In addition to their energy-boosting properties, grains also are good sources of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Because they are naturally high in fiber, grains can help you maintain your desired body weight by keeping you fuller for longer periods of time.

As with many things in life, there are varying degrees to which a grain can be beneficial, depending on the type of grain you are consuming. While some grains may be vitamin and mineral packed, others may be stripped of the vitamins and minerals they once had, making them less nutritious. Common grain products that are often stripped of their nutritional value include white bread, pasta, oatmeal and tortillas made with white flour.

Grains are available in different forms that can be consumed either on their own or as a base ingredient in a product. To help understand these different types of grains and how they relate to your health, we will provide an overview of the three main forms of grains and their main properties.

The Process of Refining Grains

Now that you learned that refined grains are milled to remove the bran and germ, it's important to understand what happened during the process of refining the grains.

The process of refining grains inherently changes their composition and alters the potential benefits they may impart, since two integral parts of the grain are stripped away. Refined grains do not possess many of the nutrients that whole grains do. They often lack high levels of fiber, which is one of the major health benefits of consuming whole grains.

Refined grains are often used in many different products, including breakfast cereals, desserts, pastries, bread and crackers. Some of the most commonly consumed refined grains are white bread, white flour and white rice. With this understanding in mind, it is now possible to examine how enriched grains relate to refined grains.

Refined Grains vs. Enriched Grains

When looking at different grain products, you may also run across the term enriched grain. An enriched grain is a subset of refined grains. As mentioned above, during the refining process of grains, many of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals are stripped away. To counter this nutritional loss, enriched grains were created.

Enriched grains are fortified with nutrients that are not found in the grain naturally. Many refined grains available are enriched grains that have had vitamins and minerals added back into the product. Common vitamins and minerals used to fortify refined grains include iron, folic acid and B vitamins. To have a complete picture of how refined grains relate to other types of grains, it is also necessary to understand what whole grains are.

What are Refined Grains again?

Have you been avoiding refined grains like white bread or pasta? Or feeling bad when you do eat them? Well, there's no evidence to show that refined grains are bad for you, but there is evidence that shows that whole grains are good for you.

Somehow along the way, the message has been mixed up ? putting a slice of white bread or a dish of white pasta in the same category as pie or sweet rolls. This may become a reality when a child is shamed in the lunchroom because her mom made her a PBJ on white, or if you bring a pasta salad not made with whole wheat pasta to a picnic. Gasp!!

It's been interesting over the years to see some friends using whole wheat pasta exclusively because they thought the other kind was not a good choice (I've shared before that I don't like whole wheat pasta, and use regular, usually imported from Italy). A bread lover from way back, I always have bought a variety of breads for my family ? including white, Italian, French, and multi-grains.

The dietary recommendation is to make half of your grains whole grains. This does not mean avoid all refined grains. They too can fit into your diet.


As you can see in this infographic, what the media often portrays as refined grains (white flour, rice, pasta, and bread) are lumped into the same category as what most dietitians would refer to as sweets and baked goods. Even when I counseled heart patients 25 years ago I'd advise them to include some high fiber grains (like a high fiber cereal, brown or wild rice, a high fiber bread, bun or English muffin) and limit desserts and sweets.

The Facts

The messaging for refined grains has sometimes been associating them with poor health, suggesting that whole grains have positive effects on health and body weight, whereas refined grains have a negative effect on health and body weight.

Let's take a look at the actual evidence.

There is evidence that whole grains are associated with all cause mortality. The more whole grains in the diet, the lower the risk of disease. Food frequency reports show that dietary patterns that included high fat dairy, sugary beverages, red meat, processed meat, refined grains, and French fries were associated with poor health. So while refined grains were included in this unhealthy dietary pattern, this doesn't mean that refined grains themselves are the cause for poor health or disease, but the overall dietary pattern may.

One study found:

Patterns from exploratory factor and principal component analyses characterized by red and processed meat, refined grains, high-fat dairy, eggs, and fried products (mainly unhealthy) were positively associated with diabetes.



Studies show association between a dietary pattern and disease risk. But when you look at refined grains individually, there's no relative risk. On the other hand, a Mediterranean diet and DASH diet have a strong potential for preventing diabetes. These dietary patterns do not eliminate refined grains (like white bread or pasta), but they do recommend limiting high sugar foods (high sugar grain desserts and baked goods for instance).

The research shows high whole grain intake, but not refined grains, is associated with reduced type 2 diabetes risk. This is consistent with the DGA ? urging you to add whole grains to your diet.

The Take Away

Including whole grains in your diet, like multigrain breads, bran and oat cereals, brown and wild rice, farro, or barley, may reduce your risk of diabetes and other diseases. You can however, still enjoy some refined grains (white rice or pasta, white breads or buns).

But, you do want to limit the sugary stuff. Sure, enjoy a dessert once in a while (even every week), but not daily, and in small portions. Refined grains such as donuts or sweet rolls don't really fall into the same category as refined bread (white, French, Italian) and English muffins for instance.

The DASH Diet follows many of the principles of the DGA, including the recommendation to consume whole grains in your diet. I support enjoyable eating plans. Balance, variety and moderation continue to support nutrition dogma that results in a dietary pattern that supports a healthy lifestyle. So include whole grains into some of your choices, but go ahead and enjoy that sandwich on white, your crisp rice cereal, or a dish of regular white pasta.

Refined Grains: How Food Affects Health

Refined grains are missing fiber and key nutrients that their whole-grain counterparts retain. Don't miss out on those good-for-you parts ? go for the whole grains instead! Refined grains include white rice, white bread, regular white pasta, and other foods that have been made with white flour (also called enriched wheat flour or all-purpose flour), including many cookies, cakes, breakfast cereals, crackers, and snack foods.

Whole grains contain three parts: the bran (outer layer), endosperm (middle layer), and germ (inner layer). The bran and germ are the most nutritious parts of the grain; they contain concentrated amounts of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

During the refining process, however, the bran and germ are removed from the whole grain. The endosperm, the part of the grain that is left after the refining process, is primarily composed of starchy carbohydrates and is low in nutrients.

Some nutrients, including iron and a handful of B vitamins, are added back to refined grains and flours during manufacturing (hence the term enriched wheat flour), but these represent only a fraction of what is initially removed from the grain. For these reasons, refined grains do not provide the same health benefits as whole grains.

The type of carbohydrates you eat makes a big difference in the way you metabolize food and in the amount of energy you have. Refined grains are quickly digested into simple sugars and absorbed into your bloodstream; this can cause blood-sugar levels to spike and then quickly crash.

These rapid swings in blood sugar can drain your energy and leave you feeling moody and tired. On the other hand, high-quality carbohydrates such as whole grains are rich in fiber, which helps temper blood sugars by slowing the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream after meals.

They provide long-lasting energy that will keep you fueled for hours. That's why it's best to choose high-quality carbohydrates ? which include whole grains as well as vegetables, fruits, beans, and legumes ? instead of poor-quality carbohydrates, like refined grains, whenever possible.



Compared with diets high in refined grains, diets rich in nutritious whole grains reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure. On the flip side, the diet high in refined grains can contribute to high triglycerides and increase inflammation throughout the body, which may worsen symptoms of arthritis.

Refined grains may also stand in the way of weight loss; because they are low in fiber, they're not as filling as whole grains and are much easier to overeat.

White bread, regular pasta, and other products made with enriched wheat flour or all-purpose flour are wheat-based and therefore contain gluten, so they should be avoided by people with celiac disease. In fact, all versions (including healthy whole-grain varieties) of wheat, rye, and barley contain gluten and must be avoided by people with celiac.

If you have celiac disease, specifically choose gluten-free, whole grains like wild and brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and whole corn and packaged foods made with these ingredients (and as an extra measure of precaution, be sure to check package labels).

Why do we refine our grains?

Why are refined grains so prominent in our diet?

The only way to make flour is to crush the grains. Crushing the grain releases its natural oils, which are then exposed to air. And once you expose the oil to air, it becomes rancid pretty quickly.

This wasn't a problem before the industrial age, because they'd use the flour soon after milling it, so the grains didn't spoil as easily. But today, we mill the flour in one part of the country (or world) and ship it to another, where it then sits on the shelf until someone buys it.

By refining the grain, we remove the bran and germ, which both contain these natural oils. The remaining endosperm does not contain any oil. So making flour with only the endosperm extends the grain's shelf life and allows it to be shipped long distances without spoiling.
Sounds like a smart idea, right? Hmm, not so fast.

Refining grains caused widespread disease

Refining grains sounded like a great idea back in the 1800s, when the milling process was first developed. But while we were able to ship and store the grains for longer, those grains were stripped of their nutritional value. (Don't forget, it's the bran and germ that house most of the grain's nutrients!)

The end result turned out to be widespread nutritional deficiencies and subsequent illness (source). In response to this serious issue, governments began requiring brands to enrich their grains (or the foods containing them) with the vitamins and minerals that were lost in the refining process. Unfortunately, enriching grains only adds back a fraction of the lost nutrients, making them nutritionally inferior to whole grains.

Why fiber is important

Beyond vitamins and minerals, enriched grains also lack most (or all) of their natural fiber, which is lost to the milling process. Foods lacking in vitamins and minerals is an obvious issue, but the lack of fiber is also a problem for two big reasons.

The first and very simple reason is that fiber helps to make us feel full after a meal, which, in turn, helps to prevent overeating.

A more complex second reason is that fiber helps to slow our body's digestion of carbohydrates, which, in turn, helps to regulate our blood sugar levels.

So when we eat whole-grain carbs that still have their fiber intact, they cause a slower rise in blood sugar, allowing our body to maintain healthy levels more easily. This is a good thing.

The opposite is true when eating refined carbohydrates that lack natural fiber. In this case, the carbs are more quickly converted to blood sugar, causing our pancreas to spike its insulin secretion and work harder to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

The ongoing strain on the body to maintain normal blood sugar has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and more.

How to recognize whole grains on the label

Generally speaking, if you see the word whole or sprouted next to the name of the grain, then they are, in fact, whole and not refined.

For example:
When you see whole wheat or sprouted wheat berries on the label, you know these are whole grains. But if you see just wheat flour, white flour, or multi-grain on the label, the grains have been refined. That said, most whole grains don't actually include the word whole. For example, brown rice is a whole grain and is just called brown rice, not hole rice.

Similarly, white rice is a refined grain but is sold as white rice and not refined brown rice, which it technically is. (White rice starts off as brown rice and becomes white rice once the bran and germ are removed.)

Here's a quick list to clarify things. And below that is a chart that shows the nutritional difference between a whole and refined grain, in case you're curious.

Whole grains include:
Amaranth *
Barley
Black Rice (aka forbidden rice)
Brown Rice
Buckwheat *
Bulgur (cracked wheat)
Corn (unrefined)
Millet
Oats / oatmeal (rolled or steel-cut)
Quinoa *
Whole Rye
Sorghum
Teff
Whole wheat (including durum, farro, Kamut, and spelt varieties)
Wild Rice
* Amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat are not really grains. Considered pseudo-cereals or pseudo-grains, they are often listed alongside whole grains, because their nutritional profile and preparation are so similar.

Don't be fooled by tricky labels!

Even if a packaged food is legitimately made with whole grains, it can still lack in nutrients. This is because many processed foods will contain a large proportion of unhealthy ingredients. The end result becomes something to avoid. So, don't rely solely on the marketing claims listed on the front side of the label. Always flip it over to read the ingredients directly!

Healthy Facts About Whole-Wheat Flour Vs. White

Eating foods made from flour -- wheat grains crushed into a fine powder -- contributes to your grain intake for the day, helping you reach the six 1/2-cup servings of grains recommended daily by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, not all flours are created equal:


White flour is made from heavily refined and processed wheat grains, while whole-wheat flour is made from grains that have not undergone heavy processing. Whole-wheat and white flours differ in their nutritional value.

Fiber Content

One of the primary nutritional differences between whole-wheat and white flour is the food's fiber content. Dietary fiber has a number of health benefits -- it prevents constipation, lowers blood cholesterol and might help you lose weight, according to Colorado State University.

The refining process associated with making white flour separates the fiber-rich brain from the rest of the grain, so white flour typically contains less fiber than its whole-grain counterpart. For example, 1/2 cup of white flour contains 1.3 grams of fiber, while an equal serving of whole-wheat flour contains 6.4 grams.

As a result, selecting foods that contain wheat flour helps you reach your dietary fiber intake goal -- 28 grams daily if you follow a 2,000-calorie diet, according to Colorado State University.

Effect on Blood Sugar

Any carbohydrate-containing food -- including those containing either whole-wheat and white flour -- has some effect on your blood sugar. After you eat a meal, your body breaks the carbohydrates from your food into glucose, a simple sugar. This glucose then enters your bloodstream, so it can circulate throughout your body and provide fuel to your cells. The glycemic index, or GI, of a food serves as a measure of how quickly this process occurs.

High-GI foods lead to rapid blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes that leave you hungry and irritable shortly after eating. Low-GI foods absorb more slowly to prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes, so you're satisfied for longer after your meal. Bread made with 100 percent whole-wheat flour has a GI of 51, according to Harvard Medical School, while bread made with white wheat flour has a GI of 71. If you seek to regulate your blood sugar after a meal, choose foods made with whole-wheat flour.

Vitamin Content

Whole-wheat flour provides a nutritional advantage over some white flours due to its vitamin content. Whole-wheat flour contains several vitamins, including folate, riboflavin and vitamins B-1, B-3 and B-5. Some types of white flour contain lower levels of these vitamins, since the processing involved in making white flour destroys the grains vitamin content -- for example, 1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour contains 3 milligrams of niacin, while an equivalent portion of white flour contains only 0.8 milligrams.

To combat this, some food manufacturers enrich their white flour with vitamins to replace the nutrients lost during processing. As a result, whole-grain flour often contains higher levels of vitamins than unenriched white flour but roughly compares to vitamin-enriched white flour. Check the nutrition label to determine if a bag of white flour has added vitamins, and compare different brands of flour to maximize your vitamin intake.

Eat More Whole-Wheat Flour

Making a few easy substitutions in your diet helps you reap the nutritional benefit of whole-wheat flour without sacrificing the foods you love. When you bake at home, try using a mix of whole-wheat and white flours for cookies, muffins and cakes, and opt for 100-percent whole-wheat flour to make homemade bread.

At the grocery store, check your bread labels to select loaves made with 100 percent whole wheat -- this bread is made using whole-wheat flour, whereas those labeled simply "whole-wheat" might contain a mix of whole wheat and white flours. In the pasta isle, skip the white pasta and opt for noodles made from a mix of white and whole-wheat flour.

Pasta made with 100-percent whole wheat feels gummy after cooking thanks to the pasta's fiber content, so choosing pasta made using some whole-wheat flour boosts the nutritional content of your meal without sacrificing texture.