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Grains of Wisdom Spring 2008
Message From the President
The Wheat Foods Council has been in the business of providing health care professionals and consumers with research-based nutrition education materials for over 35 years. You probably already knew that! Obesity in general and childhood obesity in particular is on the rise. You probably already knew that as well. What you might not be aware of is that WFC is responding to this growing epidemic with the release of our 35th Anniversary Commemorative Cookbook to which some of you submitted recipes. This cookbook was created to empower and enable parents to communicate with their children about food, its nutritional content, proper portion sizes and origins. Cooking is a great way to begin this dialogue and truly engage children and increase their awareness and knowledge of the foods they eat. Preparing recipes from our book with children will result in much more than a delicious meal. It will serve as the beginning of a heightened interest in food and health for a lifetime. Marcia Scheideman, M.S., R.D. President
Hot Topics
FDA Comment Extension The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended the comment period for the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for nutrition labeling to April 30, 2008. This was done in response to concerns raised to the FDA by a number of organizations (including WFC) that the 90-day comment period did not allow sufficient time to develop meaningful or thoughtful responses to issues raised. The Nutrition Facts portion of the food label is an important tool that consumers can use to improve their diet. At this time there are a number of issues that are being considered which will impact consumer understanding of what they are choosing to eat. They include: 1) what reference value will be used as a basis for the Daily Value; 2) what nutrients should be added and/or removed from the Nutrition Facts label; 3) how to express total fat, trans fat, and saturated fat; 4) calculating carbohydrates and how to label them; 5) how to express fiber; 6) whether to include other nutrients of concern identified in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines; and 7) consumer understanding of food labels. FDA is soliciting input from all interested parties in their attempt to formulate new rules that will contribute to consumer understanding of the food they eat. Become part of this process, click here. Project M.O.M. Mothers & Others & MyPyramid Project M.O.M. – Mothers & Others & MyPyramid – is a multi-pronged initiative by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) aimed at transforming the way the American family eats. It involves government, industry, educators, consumers and the media. WFC president, Marcia Scheideman, was invited along with fellow executives from other leading food industry associations, to the first USDA Food Industry Roundtable to help develop a plan on how to best involve the food industry in a national corporate challenge. The Corporate Challenge will provide a government-sponsored opportunity for industry to help end childhood obesity by providing information on the food label to help the family decision-maker make healthy food choices for him/herself and the family. Project M.O.M. consists of multiple initiatives, all with the same goal of empowering nutritional gatekeepers. CNPP has initiated four projects that you can use with your audiences under the Project M.O.M. umbrella. They will be released beginning March 2008. They are: MyPyramid Menu Planner – March 2008 MyPyramid for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding – May 2008 MyPyramid for Preschoolers – September 2008 Cost of Raising a Child Calculator – January 2009 Each of these projects is briefly described in the Project M.O.M. Tools. As a leader in providing nutrition education information about grain-based foods, WFC is already on board with CNPP with our Mom, the Everyday Athlete program and our 35th Anniversary Cookbook initiative. The cookbook is designed to be a tool used by parents in developing a healthy lifestyle for their families and preventing childhood obesity. WFC leadership will continue to work with CNPP and strengthen our relationship and help prevent childhood obesity. For more information on the Corporate Challenge, please visit the Partnering with MyPyramid: Corporate Challenge website.
Study Spotlight
Healthier Diets for Better Academic Performance Children with healthy diets may have a leg up on the competition in the classroom. A recent study featured in the April 2008 issue of the Journal of School Health found that children who ate more healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, fiber, protein, calcium and moderate fat as part of their diets scored better in literacy exams.ⁱ Researchers collected information regarding dietary intake, height and weight from 5000 Canadian fifth grade students. A standardized literacy assessment was then administered to these children. While this isn’t the first study to support the link between healthier diets and academic performance, it reaffirms that breakfast may lay a foundation for better performance in school. Other studies have found those who eat breakfast regularly may have better memories and an increased attendance rate and are less likely to be overweight.ⁱⁱ It is important for parents to play a role in instilling healthy eating habits and encouraging the daily consumption of breakfast as they have the ability to influence their child’s food choices. Breakfast is an opportune time to introduce whole grains into a child’s diet considering the many whole grain breakfast options available. According to data from the USDA, Americans eat less than one serving of whole grains each day. Per the 2005 USDA dietary guidelines, half of your daily servings of grains should be whole grain. The following breakfast suggestions can be shared with your pediatric patients and or their parents. Create a yogurt parfait by layering fresh fruit with low fat yogurt and lower sugar granola. Top low sugar oatmeal with fresh fruit. Fill a whole wheat tortilla with scrambled eggs, low-fat cheese and diced veggies, roll it up and enjoy. These are also good on-the-go when wrapped in foil. Blend your favorite frozen fruits with low fat yogurt and milk for a delicious smoothie. Toast whole grain bread, bagel or English muffin and serve with peanut butter- for an added nutrition boost, add banana slices or raisins. Some additional tips to help your clients minimize the morning rush: Prep fruits and vegetables the night before. Wash, cut up and store the produce in a food storage container or plastic baggie. Make homemade granola and store in an airtight container. Stock up on breakfast items like whole and enriched grain cereals, tortillas, breads, bagels and English muffins. These can be frozen for future use. ⁱ Florence MD, Asbridge M, Veugeler PJ. Diet Quality and Academic Performance. Journal of School Health. 2008;78(4):209-215. ⁱⁱ Rampersaud GC, Pereira MA, Girard BL, Adams J, Metzl JD. Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2005;105(5):743-60.
Ask Marcia
Paula asks: I have extra bread flour in my pantry. Can I use bread flour instead of white or unbleached flour in my recipes? Similarly, Amy asks: What is the difference between unbleached flour and whole wheat flour? These are good questions regarding different types of flours and the type to use in a particular recipe. Bread flour has a higher gluten content than all-purpose (enriched white) flour. The extra gluten makes for a sturdier and more elastic dough and a better overall loaf of bread. You can certainly still use AP flour to make bread, but just add 1 T. of gluten, available at most grocery stores, for each cup of AP flour used. However, depending on what you are making, bread flour might not be the best choice as it can make a tender product like cookies, cake or biscuits much less tender. Unbleached flour is not the same as whole wheat flour. Bleaching lightens the color of the flour (a process which would occur naturally given enough time), makes a better flour for baking, leaves no chemical residue nor does it change the nutritional value of the flour. Bread flours require less bleaching and may be unbleached. Whole wheat flour is flour that uses the entire kernel – the bran, germ and endosperm. The bran (outer layer) contains the largest amount of fiber (insoluble), B vitamins, trace minerals and a small amount of protein. The endosperm (middle layer) contains mostly protein and carbohydrates along with small amounts of B vitamins, iron and soluble fiber. The germ (inner layer) is a rich source of trace minerals, unsaturated fats, B vitamins, antioxidants, phytochemicals and a minimal amount of high quality protein. The presence of bran in whole wheat flour reduces gluten development. Products made from whole wheat flour tend to be denser than those made from white flour.
Meet & Greet
Your chance to meet our president, Marcia Scheideman, is right around the corner. Marcia will attend the following events: National Pasta Association, Fort Myers, FL, April 6 - 8, 2008. AACC Technical Conference, Kansas City, MO, May 21-23, 2008. USDA-ARS Stakeholder Workshop, Baltimore, MD, June 11, 2008. SNE Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, July 19-22, 2008.
Fun Fast Facts
Foods that Help You Snooze Women who slept five or fewer hours per night were 32 percent more prone to weight gain and 15 percent likelier to become obese than those who got seven or more hours a night. Here’s how to bring on the zz’s: Eat foods high in tryptophan (e.g. protein foods like dairy, lean meat, eggs, peanut butter). Relax with starchy foods like pasta or cereal because carbohydrates can raise serotonin levels, increasing the chances for sleep. Combine unsweetened carbs with protein, like a small bowl of cereal with low-fat milk or crackers topped with slivers of lean turkey. The combination of a high-carbohydrate, low-protein snack seems to help the brain use tryptophan more efficiently, thereby producing more serotonin. SOURCE: Duke University Diet & Fitness research, as reported in Ladies’ Home Journal, March 2008. Beware Fast Food! On average, people tend to be about 1 1/2 pounds heavier for every fast-food meal they eat per week! SOURCE: Temple University research, as reported in Shape Magazine, March 2008. Type 2 Diabetes Update According to the World Health Organization, obesity has overtaken AIDS and malnutrition as the top health problem in the world. SOURCE: American Diabetes Association, March 2008. Get enough Vitamin D Being deficient in vitamin D is linked to a 60 percent increased risk of heart attack or stroke, according to the Framingham Study. SOURCE: Woman’s Day magazine, April 1, 2008.
WFC News
New Materials from WFC! Spanish Materials *Kernel of Wheat* poster and flyer has been translated to a Spanish version. To view and download the flyer or purchase the poster, please click here. *Whole Grains Made Easy* ADA Fact Sheet, on which WFC collaborated last year with the Whole Grains Council, has also been translated into Spanish. Click here to view and download. WFC’s 35th Anniversary Cookbook is in its final stages of development. Playing on the "35th" theme, there are a total of thirty-five recipes in the cookbook – thirty submitted by parents from across the country and the remaining five from celebrity chef and mother of three, Gale Gand. Chef Gand’s recipes were created exclusively for WFC. Parents will be able to use this cookbook as a way to make cooking with their children a fun and educational experience. Nutritious, convenient recipes will be accompanied by facts about nutrition, portion sizes and foods' origin. We want to help parents across America make healthy eating a priority in their homes. A highlight of the book will be the education it provides on wheat and the role of grains in a healthy diet. Each recipe in the cookbook is a wheat-based recipe and falls into one of five recipe categories of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert. The cookbook will be available for purchase at www.wheatfoods.org for $3.50 beginning in May of this year. The proceeds will go to Spoons Across America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating children, teachers, and families about the benefits of healthy eating.
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