When Whole Grains Aren't Healthy

Three tips for how to be a smarter (and healthier) consumer

Think eating whole grains is always a healthy choice? Take a closer look at the nutrition label. Some products labeled with "whole grain" lingo aren't nearly as healthy as you think they are. In fact, products with the yellow Whole Grain Stamp—a symbol many look for to make healthy picks—are typically the least nutritious, found a recent Harvard School of Public Health study. After evaluating 545 whole grain products and tallying up their nutritional components, researchers found that products donning the label were higher in sugar and calories, and had a heftier price tag, than whole grain products without it.

By law, any product advertising itself as "whole grain" must have at least 51 percent whole grain by weight. However, the remaining 49 percent can include refined grains, and other not-so-good-for-you ingredients. While eating whole grains products, which are rich in fiber and vitamins, can help prevent heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity, refined grains can lead to the onset of the same conditions, making it vital to know how to distinguish the good from the bad.


Step one: Read the nutrition label and ingredients list, says Heather Bauer, RD, CDN, founder of Bestowed.com, a service that offers consumers a personalized way to discover and learn about the best nutrition products on the market. Here, Bauer shares simple rules for how to interpret what you're reading.

Don't be fooled by fancy language

Ideally, the product should be 100 percent whole grain. Words and phrases like: "Whole bran," "Multi-grain," "Made with whole grain," "A healthy source of whole grain," and "Made with wheat," don't ensure a healthy pick–these terms aren't regulated by the government, so they don't actually mean anything. Typically these slogans are printed on the packages to confuse consumers, Bauer says.

Check the order

The first ingredient on the label should be whole grains, but don't stop scanning there. If sugar or trans fat is the second or third ingredient, it's better to skip it, she says. The higher up an ingredient is on the list, the more of it is present in the food. So sugar or trans fat in second or third place could mean that you're eating a whole lot of unnecessary bad-for-you filler.

Follow the 10:1 ratio rule

Check the fiber content and the carb count. For every ten grams of total carbohydrates there needs to be at least one gram of fiber. "If the product has 30g of carbohydrates, it must have at least 3 grams of fiber to fit the bill," says Bauer. Foods that met the 10:1 ratio tend to have less sugar, sodium, and trans fats than those that didn't, found the Harvard researchers.