A Healthy Cereal is a Wholegrain Organic One

Cereals and grains play a large part in most people's diets. Cereals can be both nutritious and delicious.

But which ones are best for health? And which ones are grown in ways that do not harm the environment?

What's here?

This page is about the cereals we eat and how organic whole grains are the best cereal choice for everyday eating.

This is the first of several pages on healthy cereals and cereal nutrition facts. After a brief look at the role of cereals in our diets, this page considers wheat as a nutritional cereal. There is a brief history of wheat and a look at some of the health implications of modern cereal production methods.

There are enormous environmental concerns about our farming and cereal production methods. Modern farming is quite unsustainable.

We are bombarded with ads for breakfast cereals: "High fibre", "low fat", "added vitamins", "suitable for a calorie-controlled diet for weight loss", - the claims made for these creations are endless.

Some cereal manufacturers have deep pockets and seem to spend the equivalent of a small country's wealth on their advertising campaigns.

However, some cereals are not especially healthy cereals because they have been processed and denatured for the junk food market. They are nutritionally poor and some may even contain traces of pesticides and other contaminants.

As part of a green lifestyle you may want to eat mainly organic cereals and grains because they are better for your health and definitely better for the environment. You may also want to include a high percentage of whole grain foods because they are generally nutritionally superior, especially to bleached and highly processed supermarket products.

"There is evidence that regular consumption of cereals, specifically wholegrains, may have a role in the prevention of chronic diseases…. People who consume diets rich in wholegrain cereals seem to have a lower incidence of many chronic diseases,eg coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes."

Here are some cereal nutrition facts about different grain types with notes about their nutritional benefits, what makes each a healthy cereal, and some tips for using and storing them most effectively. We start with a look at whole grain wheat.

For more about organic foods please see Healthier diet advice and Why organic?

Click here for some good book choices on grains and recipes for grains

If you are interested in baking your own bread, check the recipes at the whole grain bread recipe page

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts:

Healthy cereal: about wheat - a brief history

Wheat has had a long history of cultivation by mankind.

It was until very recently, the most popular grain in the world. It has been superseded by rice and maize, probably because they are more easily genetically modified.

There has also been a backlash in recent years against the over-consumption of wheat; the Atkin's diet and the higher profile of gluten allergies may be responsible.The wheat that we eat today bears little resemblance to wild kinds.

Wheat was discovered and developed by early farmers in the middle east. By about 11,000 years ago primitive strains were being crossed to produce better yielding crops.

Further mutations and crossing of strains led to more improvements from the point of view of the farmer. The grain became easier to thresh, for example (the separating the husks and chaff from the body of the grain).

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts

Biological mutations

Further changes occurred in the 50s when Borlang caused biological mutations by bombarding wheat seeds with chemicals and radioactive isotopes.

The resulting wheat plant had a complex biological make-up: most wheats are "hexaploid", meaning that they have 6 sets of chromosomes.

For this reason wheat is the grain that causes the most allergic reactions and symptoms of food intolerance.

The molecules of modern wheat are large and difficult for the digestive system to process effectively.

For people who are sensitive to wheat, a healthy wheat grain may be a spelt grain, or one of the other old strains of wheat which are now being researched and produced around the world.

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts:

Wheat as an allergen

Wheat can often also provoke allergic responses because it is not organic. Wholewheat is, ironically, often more damaging in this respect because more pesticide residues remain after processing.

White flour has the hulls and chaff removed as well as the precious wheatgerm. Some of the pesticide residues found in non-organic wheat are therefore found in greater concentrations in wholewheat flour, where more of the outer parts are kept.

There are many people who are unable to digest wheat because of gluten intolerance. Scientists now think that coeliac disease affects as many as 1 in a 100 in Caucasian populations.

If you suffer from gluten intolerance you may need to cut wheat and other foods containing gluten from your diet. You can buy gluten-free breads and flours and lots of special supplies for people suffering from Coeliac disease, direct from GlutenFree.com)

Coeliac disease results in damage to the small intestines and common symptoms can include: anaemia, weight-loss, bloating, pale diarrhoea, brittle bones, tiredness and even depression. (If you suspect you might suffer from this condition, see a doctor or other qualified health professional.)

Eating a lot of wheat might not be such a good idea for the rest of us, too. If you think about the amount present in many people's daily diet, you will see that it is perhaps a disproportionately large source of calories and nutrition.

Wheat is one of the principal allergens, probably largely because we (in the west) eat so much of it. In fact, even our animals are eating more of it; wheat production has doubled in the UK in recent years because of the unsustainable feeding regimens of many of our livestock. Cows are fed intensively-grown grains instead of their traditional diet of meadow grasses and herbs.

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts:

For most people, wheat can be a part of a healthy diet. Wheat flour and grains need to be cooked in order for our bodies to break down the cell walls to release the nutrients. You can eat soaked wheat berries raw - but it's a rather limited way of taking your wheat! Many people swear by the health benefits of sprouted wheat and wheatgrass juice, . If you eat some of your wheat in these forms, you will be certain of obtaining top quality nutrition.

Whole meal flour is rich in B vitamins, especially inositol, and calcium and iron. All these can be relatively hard to find in a typical western diet. Inositol, which has a role in preventing hair loss, is manufactured in a healthy gut, but food sources are very desirable too. Calcium is found in good quantities in milk and cheese but can be quite hard to absorb sufficiently from these sources. Many people, particularly teenagers and women are short of iron.

White bread and flour is enriched with calcium during production but it is lacking in other vitamins and minerals, especially potassium and iron.

It is also completely missing the valuable germ of the grain, which is rich in vitamin E as well as many of the B vitamins. B vitamins are really a complex of vitamins which work together well. For this reason, supplying only one or two of them, (as in many refined breakfast cereals) is only a very partial solution.

The food industry first removes the vitamins by processing and refining the cereal and then fortifies these nutritionally poor foods with added vitamins: these only partly replace what has been lost.

So, if you want to give yourself and your family the best nutrition, eat mainly wholegrain and organic wheat products.

Where can you buy organic whole grain flour and breads?

Organic wheat is now being grown more in Canada and the UK and elsewhere. There are also small artisan millers producing fine wholewheat flour from local grain. Some of their products even find their way onto supermarket shelves.

Most health food stores will stock a selection of organic wheat flours, including "spelt" flours. Some stores even stock wheat berries but this is unusual. People who make a lot of home-made bread sometimes like to use home-ground flour, too. It apparently has a finer flavour. You can buy suitable organic wheat for grinding to make flour and other purposes such as sprouting from Amazon.

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts:

Storing your cereals for best nutrition

It's important to store your wheat flour carefully. Flour deteriorates and loses vitality the longer it is stored. Wheatgerm is especially liable to go rancid, as the natural oils become exposed to oxygen. Flours are best kept in an air-tight container in a cool but dry environment.

All things being equal, an organic cereal will be nutritionally superior to a conventionally produced one. But a stale cereal will have lost a lot of its nutritional goodness, even if it is a top-quality organic product.

Healthy cereal choices and cereal nutrition facts:

Other valuable cereals

Other valuable cereals which may be worth considering if you are trying to enrich and vary your diet include quinoa, millet and buckwheat. Amaranth grain is also increasing in popularity.

For information on using and storing oats, their nutritional value and the different types available please see Oat Flour and Oat Groats - Oats Any Way You Like!