What do food product labels that say “whole wheat” or “100% whole grain wheat” mean? Are these better for health?
In: 0
It’s using buzzwords to trick you. These words sound healthy, so it helps companies trick people who don’t understand what’s going on (and clearly it’s working)
In reality, it’s not inherently healthier (it can be, but simply being whole wheat/whole grain does not make it so).
Much more important to pay attention to calories, and macro nutrients, and ingredients.
I do nutritional labeling…the FDA’s(U.S.) stance on this(wheat) is merely a recommendation and does not decipher how the wheat was processed, just that it was used at some point during production.
Reading the ingredients/nutritional facts is the only way to determine “health.”
It comes down to lack of regulation, lazy consumerism and nothing but a buzz word/phrase, the front of the package is to lure you, the back is to inform you.
Edit:
I own a printing company who’s main focus is the printing. It is not my job to consult nor verify the proposed information on the label/packaging as this is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer.
What we will not do is veer from the nutritional facts and ingredients that have been approved in regards to the information on the back of the product.
The front is another animal and considered “free” space where all kinds of phrases can be used hence the recommendation comment. Essentially the “advertising” does not necessarily reflect the quality or amount you’re receiving let alone health benefit claims to a certain extent. Claims like lowers cholesterol, heart attack risk, cancer are pretty much regulated but saying “daily dose of fiber, protein, whatever” is not. It just has to contain fiber or protein to fly because it’s technically true.
It always amazes me what customers will request to make things appear healthier than they are.
That standard white wheat flour you see everywhere is processed flour.
Wheat seed has 3 parts – they’re called bran, endosperm, and germ. When processing the flour, bran and germ are removed, leaving only the endosperm. Naturally, removing parts of the seed also removes the nutrients, which makes processed white flour nutritionally poorer.
Whole wheat flour, on the other hand, is exactly what it says – flour made out of whole seed with nothing removed. That means it contains more micronutrients (fiber, vitamins, minerals) than processed white flour, which makes whole wheat flour a better choice health-wise than processed flour.
You just need to be careful when reading the labels because when the front of the packaging says “whole wheat”, that may mean it has like 20% whole wheat flour, and the rest is processed white flour. If it says “100% whole wheat”, then there’s no processed flour in it.
Latest Answers