Agriculture Business Week

Before the present day crisis, when food was aplenty, people’s girths (in the Western world, at least) began expanding. Alarm bells chiming healthy people do make a healthy world rang out loud.

This was probably the turning point, the beginning of the story about people rediscovering whole grains again. But alas, just when this healthy lifestyle caught on, like brown rice regaining popularity in Thailand with the help of their King, a worldwide food crisis kicks in.

A SOLUTION
The whole grains story may not probably end with the realization that there isn’t much food to go around. In fact, it may, in part, offer a solution, noticeably in countries where there is wider acceptance and consumption of whole grain food.

Compared to their refined counterparts, whole grains, by definition, have intact bran and germ tissues that remain with the starchy endosperm layer. Nutritionally speaking, this is a good thing. It means that in every gram of whole grains, there is a healthy dose of nutrients that reside specifically in the bran and germ. These health-promoting components include dietary minerals and vitamins, protein, fats, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and dietary fiber.

There is a wide variety of whole-grain products in the market these days. People are rediscovering brown rice, and there are still the underappreciated oatmeal, corn, and whole-wheat bread. Locally manufactured whole-grain products, however, have yet to be governed by food labeling laws that reflect their whole-grainness.

A MARKER FOR A WHOLE GRAIN
In the U.S., where food labeling laws are in place, dietary fiber content is the marker that designates whole grain compliance. It is only a practical choice since alternative markers do not exist, not even in the near future as some scientists point out. Its use as a marker has limitations since the amount of dietary fiber varies dramatically among the various grains and even among subspecies within a grain type. Whole grains vary in fiber content from a low of about 3.5% (brown rice) to a high of about 17.3% (barley). Whole grain wheat has about 12.2% fiber.

Whole grains, though identified by their fiber content, cannot be considered as surrogate for fiber. When consumed in recommended serving sizes, whole grains virtually never provide an excellent (5 g of fiber) source of fiber. Consider these: 1 cup brown rice: 2.04 g fiber, 3 cups popcorn: 3.48 g, 1 slice whole-wheat bread: 1.95 g. Clearly, whole grains do not equal fiber.

A BETTER STORY
The better story on whole grains lies in their health-promoting properties. A wealth of scientific data is available to back claims that whole grain consumption reduces the risk of a number of chronic diseases. Risk reduction resulting from one whole grain serving per day intake includes those from ischemic stroke (30-36% reduction) and cardiovascular disease mortality (20%). Three servings per day was shown to reduce diabetes risk by 27%, heart disease among women by 25%, all-cause mortality by 23%, and incident coronary artery disease by 28%.

Better weight maintenance has been noted among women consuming whole grains. Likewise, one study showed that for every 40 g per day increase in whole grain intake, long term weight gain was reduced by 1.1 kg.

One caveat to all this is that one has to stick to the minimum daily intake to realize the health benefits from whole grains. A Task Force formed by the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) has identified a minimum of 48 g of whole grains per day. This not only meets dietary guidelines, but also provides important health promoting dietary components like fiber, vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients. Considering that the American diet is totally different from the Filipino’s and that our major staple is polished rice, it may be a completely different picture that needs thorough study.

ABOUT THE SPROUTS
Sprouted grains are now also considered whole grains. From the AACC’s definition, sprouted grains that contain all of the original bran, germ and endosperm shall be considered whole grains as long as sprout growth does not exceed kernel length and nutrient values have not diminished. Sprouting creates a grain that is more easily digestible and with more bioavailable key nutrients.

The sprouted form of rice is known by different names, but they all derived from brown rice. (In the process of polishing, the bran and germ layers of brown rice are removed, rendering the grain incapable of sprouting.) In Japan, it is popularly called pre-germinated brown rice. At PhilRice, researchers at the Rice Chemistry and Food Science (RCFS) Division like to call their creation sprouted brown rice (SBR) or rice toge.

Two years have been put in by RCFS researchers to create a version that is acceptable to the Filipino palate. They found that non-glutinous and pigmented rice varieties have high acceptability scores. They have already fully optimized the method for SBR preparation and preservation. The final product has a shelflife of at most three months in an open container kept in a refrigerator and up to six months in the freezer.

The SBR technology is now ready for the market. Like most whole grain foods, it will face some challenges in terms of market acceptability. But some solid facts are by its side. SBR has 15-fold higher content of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and 13 times higher oryzanol content than polished rice. GABA potentiates insulin secretion in the pancreas.

Recent scientific findings from Japan have shown that an SBR diet has blood-glucose lowering effect and may prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Well, these were demonstrated in mice. But be it mice or men, SBR, like all whole grains, can clearly give a whole lot more.