Refined grain foods like bread, rolls, and cereals are enriched with vitamins and minerals, but should we eat more of them?
To grain or not to grain, that is the question.
Or… if you’re trying to cut back on gluten, the question might be about wheat instead.
Either way, grains have taken a hit in recent years with the popularity of several antigluten and antigrain diets on the rise.
The food industry and many nutritionists, though, are doing their best to keep the reputation of grains — especially whole grains — from going stale.
食品行业赞助的一项新研究甚至表明，精致的谷物食品（如面包，面包卷和谷物）毕竟还不错。
The amount of grains that Americans eat didn’t change much between 2004 and 2014, according to theUnited States Department of Agriculture.
On average, Americans consumed slightly more than 6 ounce equivalents of grains per day — the amount recommended by the
Ounce equivalents are a way to compare different foods. For example, 1 ounce equivalent of grains is found in one packet of instant oatmeal or 3 cups of popped popcorn.
These dietary guidelines are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. People who eat less overall would need fewer grains.
In 2014, Americans also ate 0.9 ounce equivalents of whole grains, a 50 percent increase since 2004.
“As somebody who goes out and promotes whole grains all the time, there’s been some progress,” said Joanne Slavin, PhD, RD, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota.
但这仍然没有政府的饮食准则，建议人们从全谷物中获得一半的谷物。
That means the bulk of grains that Americans eat are “refined” — found in foods like breads, pizza dough, cookies, crackers, and doughnuts.
Although many nutritionists may wring their hands at the stubborn American love of refined grain foods, a new study tries to paint a rosier picture.
Thestudy，上个月发表在《养分》杂志上的，发现面包，面包卷，玉米饼和即食谷物是硫胺素，叶酸，铁，锌和烟酸等营养素的“有意义的贡献者”。
The authors also point out that these foods — unlike other grain foods like baked goods — are also low in added sugars and fats.
The study is funded by the Grain Foods Foundation, an industry group. Both authors of the study work for consulting firms that provide services to food and beverage companies, including helping the companies communicate the benefits of their products.
虽然许多精致的谷物食品确实提供这些营养，但它们并不是唯一的来源。
例如，
However, the typical American diet — heavy on breads, snack foods, pizza, and fast foods — may not contain a wide enough variety of these kinds of foods.
Which is why many refined grain foods are enriched with vitamins and minerals — basically meeting Americans where their diets are at.
“Most people don’t know a lot about nutrition, and if they’re on a really poor-quality diet, they may not get enough of these nutrients,” said Slavin. “So we’ve pretty much decided that we’re going to add nutrients back to refined grains because most people eat those foods on any given day.”
尽管您可能会从早晨的一碗丰富的谷物中得到增强的维生素和矿物质，但您还是错过了全谷物的许多好处。
要了解为什么，请考虑如何制作白面粉（最常见的精制谷物之一）。
“Once they’ve removed all the good stuff, they grind the rest into a powder, bleach it, put some synthetic — fake — inorganic vitamins back into it and sell it to you as enriched,” said Dr. David Friedman, author of “Food Sanity: How to Eat in a World of Fads and Fiction.”
Refined is not necessarily the same as “processed.” Wheat is processed into whole wheat flour and oats into rolled oats, but the final products still contain all of the grain’s original nutrients.
White flour is used to make many of the foods that Americans love.
“What do people eat?” said Slavin. “They eat desserts — pies and muffins, and things that are easier made with white flour.”
These foods taste good, but lack the dietary fiber found in whole grain foods.
According to theMayo Clinic, dietary fiber improves the health of your bowels, lowers “bad” cholesterol levels, helps control your blood sugar levels, and can help you achieve a healthy weight.
A 2016studyby The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health also found that people who ate about four servings of whole grains per day — compared with those who ate few or no whole grains — were 22 percent less likely to die early.
They also had a 23 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 20 percent lower risk of cancer.
That’s why when it comes to whole grains vs. refined grains, Slavin offers a simple message — “a better choice is a whole-grain choice.”
It can take a while to adjust to the heartier taste of whole-grain breads and pizza crust, but “once you learn to like whole-grain products, it actually tastes fine,” said Slavin.
There are also other whole-grain options, such as brown rice, quinoa, and oats. And less-common ones like sorghum, triticale, and teff.
近年来，谷物在“古饮食”，“小麦肚”和“谷物大脑”等书籍中的流行中获得了很多不良媒体。
这有一些关心。
弗里德曼说：“我发现营养学家，健康专家和作者告诉人们如何完全消除饮食中的全谷物，这让我感到沮丧。”“最新的古饮食时尚造成了这种不必要的对谷物和面筋的恐惧。”
There are some people who need to avoid gluten, which is found in grains like wheat.
根据游说团体超越腹腔, an estimated 3 million Americans have celiac disease, and 18 million more are sensitive to gluten. Eating breads, rolls, and cookies that contain gluten will make them sick.
But Friedman says many people may be avoiding grains because of an unfounded fear of gluten.
“For all the rest of you — 90 percent of those reading this — completely boycotting gluten is absolutely not necessary, and doing so is a detriment to your good health,” said Friedman.
Slavin is not comfortable labeling grains as “good” or “bad.”
“They fit into diets in different ways,” she said.
For people trying to lose weight, eating too many grains — especially refined grains — can be a problem because of the extra calories.
But for people who are growing or are active, grains can provide a reliable source of energy.
Still, there’s even wiggle room in the diet when it comes to that.
斯拉文说：“让我们看一下运动员 - 需要大量卡路里的人。”“它们也可以适应并使用脂肪作为卡路里。因此，人们非常适合能源。”
