WASHINGTON DC — A new study published in Frontiers of Nutrition, a peer-reviewed medical journal of nutritional science, suggests that removing enriched refined grain foods from the average American diet can result in the failure to meet the recommended amount of several key nutrients including fiber, iron and magnesium.
The study looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate the average daily intake of important nutrients for two groups of adult Americans, one between ages 19-50 years and the other between ages 51-99. The study found that the removal of refined grains reduced nutrient levels in both age groups by a significant amount, but it also found that this led to a reduced energy intake by approximately 10% in both age groups. These combined effects reveal the nutritional impact from removing refined grains from the diet.
The study was conducted with the knowledge that the participants were lacking essential nutrients from their daily diets beforehand. While this did not affect the study’s outcome, it further highlighted the importance of consuming refined grains such as bread, ready-to-eat cereals and all-grained foods in order to compensate for the lack of nutrition occurring elsewhere.
“Whenever you remove entire food groups or a majority of foods from select food groups, you will have nutrient shortfalls and likely will not have the kind of energy needed to sustain your daily activities, and grains are no exception,” said Stacey Krawczyk, principal consulting registered dietitian for the Grain Foods Foundation and president of FoodWell Strategies. “There are not many peer-reviewed studies out there that examine the nutrient contributions of staple refined, enriched and fortified grains in the American diet, so the hope is that this data will provide people with the understanding they need to help recover potential nutrient shortfalls in their diet.”
The Grain Foods Foundation provided funding to support this research. The complete published study can be found here.
