Whole grains are universally recommended in a healthful diet, providing helpful nutrients like dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, but they are a severely underutilized food group. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests choosing from a wide variety of grains daily and making half of the grains you eat whole grains.

What are whole grains?

Whole grains are defined as a grain (think rice, dry corn, barley, wheat, etc.) that keeps its endosperm, germ, and bran through processing. Its counterpart, refined grains, removes the bran and germ during processing, leaving just the endosperm.

Eliminating these components removes certain nutrients from the grain, such as dietary fiber, vitamins (especially B vitamins), and trace minerals such as magnesium, selenium, and copper.

What’s the big deal about whole grains?

National surveys have revealed that Americans eat less than one serving of whole grains daily compared to the recommended three servings, but why should this concern us?

For starters, whole grains can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancers, the two leading causes of death in the United States. Several large epidemiological studies have shown a moderately strong association between increased whole grain intake and decreased risk for cardiovascular disease.

Whole grains help our bodies stave off disease because they are rich in nutrients like tocotrienol (a form of vitamin E and an antioxidant) as well as nutrients that help lower cholesterol levels, like plant sterols, resistant starches, dietary fiber, and oligosaccharides.

According to Ohio State Dietitian Candice Schreiber, the fiber in whole grains can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by moving food through the body, reducing transit time.

Whole grains have also been found to lower blood sugar. Dietary fibers slow down digestion, and dietary magnesium, fiber, and vitamin E reduce the amount of insulin in the blood between meals. This blood sugar and insulin decrease lowers the risk for type II diabetes, a slowly growing but severe problem in the United States.

How can I increase my whole grain consumption?

The dining commons have a wide array of delicious whole grain options that provide all of the above benefits!

Breakfast:

• Grab some whole grain bread or a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter or jelly,
• A piping hot helping of oatmeal or breakfast quinoa with a handful of fruit and nuts, or
• A bowl of honey nut cheerios.

Lunch:

• Enjoy a cold quinoa salad,
• Try swapping the white bread on your sandwich with whole grain bread, or
• Add a scoop of brown rice to your soup or with your entrée.

Dinner:

• Use whole grain pasta instead of white pasta at the build-your-own pasta stations, or
• Savor a whole wheat tortilla while building your burrito at O’Hacienda!