Whole grain or multigrain? Whole grain is good. Multigrain sound like multiple benefits, but is it healthy in real sense? It is worth of paying extra money? Let’s find out.
Natural foods contain a complete package with nutrients in right proportion when there is no intervention which helps in digestion and absorption of the food in usual. From the farmer’s cultivation field to the shopping store, food passes through different stages of the journey.
First you should understand the refining process of manufacturer.
In refining of foods, many vital nutrients which are beneficial to health are usually lost. Bran and germ portions of grains or seeds are usually removed and endosperm or mainly carbohydrates portions remains after the process of refining. Bran and germ portion contains vital nutrients including vitamins, enzymes, protein and minerals. Further in refining process some nutrients are additionally added to refined grain however this is a smaller percentage compared to the nutrients removed and proportion is not as the same original in usual. This is also labelled as enriched. However such enrichment or refined grain or seeds misses nature’s package and are not as beneficial as the original one. Bran and germs that are removed are used in production of some other goods such as vegetable oils.
Bran: Bran is the outer layer of grain which contains important nutrients such as vitamins, fiber, antioxidant.
Germ: Sprout is developed to a new plant from germ portion of grain. It usually contains vitamins, protein, minerals and healthy fats.
Endosperm: It the inner portion of grain and contains carbohydrates in major and protein and small amount of vitamins and minerals. It provides energy to the small plant so that root can go inside the soil for vitamins and water.
In whole food this practice is not implied. Whole grain or flour contains originality of the grain or close to the original. When a food is labelled as whole we may consider it is close to the original.
The term multigrain is somewhat confusing. In this process manufacturer mixes numbers of grains under same product label. If the grains are not whole or grains are powdered and not labelled as whole, it can‘t be considered as whole which does not contain nature’s package of nutrients.
Bottom line:
I hope above information will bring some light in selecting whole grain or multigrain. Whole grain flour is healthier choice than multigrain flour if the ingredients of multigrain flour are not whole. Don’t be fooled by the health claims, always read the labels for what you are paying.
