PERSONAL HEALTH; For Unrefined Healthfulness: Whole Grains

The New York Times: Health

By Jane E. Brody
Published March 4, 2003

"Carbohydrates have been taking a beating lately, blamed for the growing obesity epidemic, a raised risk of heart disease and diabetes, among others. To be sure, the carbs that predominate in the American diet -- sugars and refined starches -- deserve much of this unsavory reputation.

Consumed to excess as they are now, refined starches act like sugars. Each is widely considered a major culprit in making people overweight, and being excessively overweight adversely affects blood lipids and blood sugar, fostering heart disease and diabetes.

But there is another far more wholesome kind of carbohydrate -- whole grains, which make up only 5 percent of Americans' carbohydrate consumption.

Whole grains contain health-enhancing bran (the outer layer) and germ (the internal embryo) naturally found in all grains. When grains are refined to make white flour and white rice, for example, the bran and germ and all their healthful nutrients, antioxidants and other disease-fighting plant chemicals are systematically removed."

and "A Role in Weight Control"
"But when a food contains all or mostly whole grains, digestion and absorption are slowed by the fibrous bran and by the protein and fat in the germ, increasing satiety and delaying the return of hunger. People who eat more whole grains tend to weigh less than those who consume fewer."

Note that the article has errors with the listings for online sources.
For Spelt (Farro) go to Purity Foods