Benefits of Whole Wheat Grains!

We are always persuaded by our elders to eat hand pound rice and hand ground wheat rather than eating polished rice. But we carry on eating the machine-polished cereals as they can be stored for a longer time. The fact is that machine-polishing removes the bran that surrounds the seed containing the pericarp. Bran also has an ‘aleurone layer’ which contains small amounts of vital nutrients for instance vitamins, iron, zinc etc.
People eating whole grains considering them as a healthy diet have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Grains are considered as an important sources of many nutrients, such as fiber, B vitamins and minerals.
These ‘micronutrients’ are not present in machine-polished grains which in turn leads to “hidden hunger”. United Nation agencies stated that hidden hunger affects one in every three children worldwide. This leads to insufficient physical growth and hampers development of the brain.
Consuming food full of fiber, such as whole grains, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and also helps to reduce constipation.
High-fiber foods such as whole grains helps to provide fullness with few calories. Selecting whole grains for at least half your daily eating habits may help you to maintain your weight. Incorporation of whole grains into your healthy eating plan by addition of a whole wheat bagel or toast in breakfast, a sandwich on whole wheat bread at lunch or whole wheat pasta in dinner.
In addition to the basic benefits of grains, they help maintain optimum health due to the photochemical they contain – many of which are still being identified. In the 1970s Dr. Ramalingaswami of ICMR started a programme in India. As per this programme in every six months children were administered large amounts of vitamin A. This was done to help them beat “night blindness”.Dr. Maharaj Krishan Bhan a member of AIIMS and Department of Biotechnology in New Delhi developed a salt mixture which contains micronutrients zinc and iron, to be given to children suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration.
If rice and wheat full of micronutrients are included in the daily diet there will be no need of such supplements. To address this concern Institute of Rice Research, led by Dr. Vemuri Ravindra Babu has successfully found a variety of rice DRR Dhan 45. In this variety the zinc and other content are not lost upon polishing. As a result, rice can be kept for a long time and can be used. They also want to develop similar varieties of wheat, maize and millets which are rich in zinc and other essential nutrients.

By: Saksham Gupta
Content: https://www.healthyeating.org/healthy-eating/all-star-foods/grains