(Press-News.org) The Grain Chain, a farm to fork coalition of stakeholders in the grain industry sector and chaired by the American Bakers Association (ABA), celebrates the recommendation published today in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) to "consume half of your grains from whole grain sources" and the remainder from enriched grains. A foundational piece of the DGAs, the guidelines recognize whole grains are "one of the three food groups that are fundamental constituents of a healthy dietary pattern."
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) oversee and publish the Dietary Guidelines, the cornerstone of all Federal nutrition policy and nutrition education guidelines. The guidelines shape consumer health decisions and doctor recommendations.
Of importance, the DGAs maintained the existing recommendation for the average healthy American adult to consume six one-ounce servings of grain foods daily, with half of those servings coming from whole grains.
For the first time, the DGAs included recommendations for birth to two years. The Grain Chain applauds the recognition of grains as one of the traditional, nutritious first foods for infants. Numerous research studies have demonstrated significant, positive effects of nutrient absorption, improved nutrition quality, and overall wellness from enriched grains at various life stages.
The key takeaways from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans for the grains-based foods industry:
Grains, both enriched and whole, play a key role in healthy dietary patterns and diet quality
Grains are a significant contributor of dietary fiber, a generally under-consumed nutrient for Americans
Grains contribute to overall diet quality through key essential nutrients
Grains are a delicious, versatile, affordable, and sustainable plant-based food
Enrichment and fortification of grains are key contributors to positive public health impacts
Since folic acid fortification of enriched grain foods became required in 1998, the prevalence of babies born with neural tube defects (NTDs) has decreased by 35% in the U.S., leading the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to name folic acid fortification of enriched grains one of the top 10 public health achievements of the first decade of the 21st century
The DGAs included guidance on enriched grains, maintaining the existing recommendation of three one-ounce servings of enriched grains daily. While the guidelines cite science-backed evidence of positive health outcomes from the inclusion of enriched grains, the Grain Chain is extremely concerned to see the DGAs include contradictory language linking "refined grains" with poor dietary patterns and health outcomes.
Published scientific research clearly and unequivocally illustrates the key roles of grains - both enriched and whole - in healthy dietary patterns and their significant contributions to diet quality. To clarify and correct potential consumer confusion resulting from this contradictory language, the members of the Grain Chain look forward to partnering with the USDA and HHS to help educate the public on the value of both enriched and whole grains.
For more information about grains, go to GoGrains.org.
Others in the Grain Chain weighed in on the recommendations published in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines:
"The American Bakers Association is very appreciative of the thorough work of the DGAC as well as USDA staff in the culmination of their efforts, published today," said Lee Sanders, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs, ABA. "ABA has been pleased to lead and work with the Grain Chain throughout the 2020-2025 process, and we strongly agree on the goodness of six grain servings, half enriched grains and half whole grains, on Americans' daily plates."
"The Guidelines are an essential map for consumers, policy-makers, and feeding program implementers to use as they feed themselves, their families, and the most vulnerable in our country," said Christine Cochran, Executive Director, Grain Foods Foundation. "The unity of the Grain Chain's message and the importance of its being heard have been affirmed in this DGA cycle today: the nutritional contribution of grains is essential in the diet at all stages of life."
As a member of the Grain Chain coalition the USA Rice Federation supports and appreciates the ongoing efforts to provide input and guidance on the development of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. "Research has repeatedly demonstrated the benefits of enriched and whole grain consumption and its correlation to a healthy eating pattern," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "USA Rice stands with its Grain Chain partners in support of the comments submitted and the overall recommendation that the nutritional benefit of grain consumption is vital at all stages of life."
"Enriched and whole wheat and grain-based foods provide important nutritional benefits, are affordable and foundational foods in many cultures. Regular consumption of wheat and other grains delivers key nutrients including B vitamins, folate, iron and fiber," said Tim O'Connor, President, of the Wheat Foods Council.
NAMA President Jane DeMarchi stated, "We are delighted that the nutritional value of both whole and enriched grains in the diet, which is supported by vast scientific research, is acknowledged by the updated Dietary Guidelines. Grain foods are staples that create the foundation for a healthy and balanced diet. They are affordable, versatile, convenient, and easy to store. The significance of these qualities cannot be overstated in normal times, much less during a global pandemic where families are stressed, and food dollars are stretched."
Pasta is an essential staple on the American table and plays an important role in supporting healthy dietary patterns, especially in the Mediterranean Diet, which has been shown to have a number of positive benefits," said Delia Murphy, Executive Director of the National Pasta Association. "Through our participation in the Grain Chain, NPA is proud to reinforce and acknowledge the importance of both enriched and whole grains in the Dietary Guidelines and their contribution to diet quality and key positive nutrients."
INFORMATION:
-About the Grain Chain-
ABA leads the Grain Chain whose members include: American Bakers Association, American Institute of Baking, Cereal and Grains Association; Grain Foods Foundation, Independent Bakers Association, National Pasta Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, North American Millers Association, Retail Bakers of America, Wheat Foods Council, and USA Rice Federation.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - COVID-19, which has killed 1.7 million people worldwide, does not follow a uniform path.
Many infected patients remain asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Others, especially those with comorbidities, can develop severe clinical disease with atypical pneumonia and multiple system organ failure.
Since the first cases were reported in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has surged into a pandemic, with cases and deaths still mounting. Ongoing observational clinical research has become a priority to better understand how this previously unknown virus acts, and findings from this research can better inform treatment and vaccine design.
University ...
Carrageenans, biologically active polysaccharides isolated from red algae and widely used in the food industry as stabilizers, thickeners, or jelly agents have an express effect on the immune systems of mice, a study reports. The research was carried out by scientists from the School of Biomedicine of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Vilnius University. A related article appears in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.
"The fact that carrageenan demonstrates immunosuppressive properties in a particular case does not make it generally dangerous or toxic though", says Aleksandra ...
Leesburg, VA, December 29, 2020--According to an article in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), because patients with ballistic embedded fragments are frequently denied MRI (due to indeterminate bullet composition sans shell casings), radiography and CT can be used to identify nonferromagnetic projectiles that are safe for MRI.
"Commercially available handgun and shotgun ammunition representing projectiles commonly encountered in a clinical setting was fired into ballistic gelatin as a surrogate for human tissue," explained first author Arthur J. Fountain from the department of radiology and imaging sciences at Emory ...
While the world has its eyes on vaccines to stop the spread of coronavirus, therapeutics are still necessary to treat hospitalized patients. One of these treatments, remdesivir, is the first and only antiviral agent of its kind that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved so far for COVID-19.
Research at the University of Cincinnati, however, contends that this antiviral drug is being used too indiscriminately when treating patients hospitalized with the virus. The study is published in the journal Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology.
The FDA approved remdesivir, marketed as Veklury, for emergency use authorization in May 2020 to treat COVID-19 and granted full approval ...
Mobile apps have revolutionised the way people meet in Switzerland and elsewhere in recent years. Unlike traditional dating sites, these apps do not feature detailed user profiles but are largely based on rating photos using a swipe review system. As dating apps escalated in popularity, so has criticism about them encouraging casual dating only, threatening the existence of long-term commitment, and possibly damaging the quality of intimacy. There is no scientific evidence, however, to validate these claims. A study by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, provides a wealth of information about couples who met through dating apps, drawing on data from a 2018 Swiss survey. The results, ...
Very low birthweight infants often need blood transfusions to survive. A National Institutes of Health-funded study suggests that providing a higher threshold of red cells within accepted limits offers no advantage in survival or reduction in neurological impairment over a lower threshold. The research was conducted by Haresh Kirpalani, B.M., of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues and was funded by the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The study appears in The ...
Women awaiting liver transplants in the United States are known to be about one-third more likely than men to become too ill to undergo surgery or die before receiving a liver. Now a study headed by UC San Francisco and Columbia University highlights the role that frailty plays in this gender gap.
The study followed 1,405 patients with cirrhosis, of whom 41 percent were women, awaiting liver transplantation at nine transplant centers in the United States. The men, whose ages ranged from 49 to 63, were more likely to have chronic hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease (27 percent versus 22, and 33 percent versus 19 percent). The women, whose ages ranged ...
In an in-depth study of how COVID-19 affects a patient's brain, National Institutes of Health researchers consistently spotted hallmarks of damage caused by thinning and leaky brain blood vessels in tissue samples from patients who died shortly after contracting the disease. In addition, they saw no signs of SARS-CoV-2 in the tissue samples, suggesting the damage was not caused by a direct viral attack on the brain. The results were published as a correspondence in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"We found that the brains of patients who contract infection from SARS-CoV-2 may be susceptible to microvascular blood vessel damage. Our results ...
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is collaborating with private industry on cutting-edge fusion research aimed at achieving commercial fusion energy. This work, enabled through a public-private DOE grant program, supports efforts to develop high-performance fusion grade plasmas. In one such project PPPL is working in coordination with MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up spun out of MIT that is developing ...
In a first-of-its-kind study within cycad horticulture literature, University of Guam researchers have found that the use of anti-transpirants neither help nor hinder successful propagation of cycad stem cuttings.
The Guam-based study, published Oct. 22 in the journal Tropical Conservation Science, investigated whether retaining leaves during the propagation of cycad stem cuttings conferred any benefit to propagation success. Additionally, two anti-transpirant products were utilized to investigate their efficacy during the propagation process.
Leaves perform a variety of critical functions for plants, including ...
