Selling Wholesomeness in the Breakfast Bowl

Interesting piece in the NYTimes on Whole Grains in the market and the new marketing push

click here for the article Eating Well: Selling Wholesomeness in the Breakfast Bowl

"Whole grains" are buzz words for 2005. One market research firm, Mintel, has declared them the ingredient of the year. On Monday, Post cereals announced its lineup of whole grain cereals. The rush brings back memories of the late 1980's and the oat bran craze , which lost steam as soon as oat bran potato chips appeared on the market.

But whole grains are different. They are not unnatural additions to food, the way oat bran was for most products. White flour did not become popular until after the Civil War, when the invention of the steel roller mill made the refining process cheap. But the process of refining grains strips them of much of their vitamin, mineral and fiber content. That is why ready-to-eat cereals are fortified with many - though not all - of those lost vitamins and minerals. Fiber is not added back.

The whole grain movement received an important boost when the federal dietary guidelines, released last month, suggested that half of the recommended grain servings consumed by Americans be whole grains, particularly because of their fiber content. Whole grains now make up only 5 percent of the grains eaten by Americans.