When choosing in the supermarket, the decision is not easy: wholemeal muesli or oatmeal? Wheat mixed bread or spelled bun? The best grain does not exist, there are nutritionists agree. Nevertheless, there are some facts worth knowing that can be watched by those who want to eat healthily.
Who wants to lose weight, must pay attention to the grind
There are finely ground and ground flours. Wholegrain flours are ground - they contain the germ, the shell and the endosperm and thus more healthy ingredients. In white flour they are no longer.
Wheat products such as the type 405 flour, therefore, have a bad reputation. Especially bright bread rolls or baguette is said to have a negative impact on the weight. "The demonization of wheat is modern," says Harald Seitz of the Federal Center for Nutrition. Wheat flours contained carbohydrates as well as other flours.
However, they are relatively low in other ingredients, but they contain a lot of starch - and this consists of sugar chains. When the starch breaks down after ingestion, the insulin level in the body increases to push the sugar into the cells. Thereafter, the sugar level falls off quickly. The result: you get hungry again and start eating again. This re-eating was a behavior that could lead to weight gain, so Seitz.
In addition, scientists have found out that the fiber in whole-grain products is not only itself difficult to digest and therefore excreted again. They also seem to complicate the digestibility of proteins and fat. Study participants who had switched their diet completely to whole-grain products were able to lose about 2.5 kilos per year - without diet or exercise.
Look carefully: Is this really whole wheat?
Not every dark or grain-containing bread is also wholemeal bread. From a purely visual point of view, the content of baked goods can not always be clearly concluded. Therefore, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) advises to look closely. The term "wholegrain" is protected by law. Products with this label must contain at least 90 percent whole wheat flour or meal.
"Sometimes bakery products are also darkened," says Monika Bischoff, a nutritionist at the Center for Nutritional Medicine and Prevention at the Barmherzige Brüder hospital in Munich. Many customers think that dark bread is automatically healthier - that's the manufacturer's idea. Malt extract or sugar beet syrup on the content list may be an indication of such tricks. Also, not every roll to stick on the kernels on top, is automatically a wholemeal roll.
So if you look at the list of contents, you can not be deceived. The guidelines of the German food book for bread and biscuits specify which composition may be designated as multigrain. A multigrain product is a mixture of at least three types of flour. However, each variety contained must be represented with at least five percent.
The name Dreikorn contains three different types of grain according to the name. Another distinction is the mixed bread. Rye mixed bread, for example, consists of at least 50 percent and a maximum of 90 percent rye flour and at least one other cereal.
The right grain for diseases
The DGE recommends using as many as possible whole grains in its ten nutritional rules. These can reduce the risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, lipid metabolism disorders, colon cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The recommended minimum amount is 30 grams of fiber per day. That's about four slices of wholewheat bread. Anyone who eats 90 grams of whole grains a day reduces the risk of developing coronary heart disease by 19 percent. The risk of cancer can also be reduced by eating whole grains instead of white flour products.
more on the subject
The intestinal flora of humans needs fiber, says Monika Bischoff. "Especially the oats, which are very valuable." These are the beta-glucans that can lower cholesterol. " But in wholegrain, of course, many more minerals are included - just like B vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium and phytochemicals, says Bischoff.
Gluten is not evil per se
A common myth is that spelled is healthier than wheat. "Some people who think they can not tolerate wheat say: Spelled is better," says nutritionist Stephan Bischoff from the University of Hohenheim. That was scientifically but not yet substantiated.
Particularly glaring is gluten, the gluten, which contains grains such as wheat, spelled, rye and barley. According to interest groups, every 20th in Germany suffers from glutensensitivity - eating gluten-free is in vogue. "There is only one group that has to do without gluten," says Monika Bischoff. "These are celiac disease patients." Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease in which the small intestinal mucosa becomes inflamed in response to gluten. In addition, there is a so-called wheat allergy and a gluten intolerance, the cause of which, however, is not fully understood.
However, anyone who feeds gluten-free for no reason does not necessarily do any good. For example, significant digestive problems can arise because less fiber is available to the body.