Amazing Collection of Nutrition

Antioxidant Content of Whole Grain Breakfast Cereals, Fruits and Vegetables

Harold E. Miller, PhD, Fred Rigelhof, Leonard Marquart, PhD, Aruna Prakash, PhD, and Mitch Kanter, PhD

General Mills, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota [gene.miller@genmills.com]

Background: Considerable scientific evidence suggests that whole grains, as commonly consumed in the United States and Europe, reduce risk for chronic disease including cancer and heart disease. Whole grains provide a wide range of nutrients and phytochemicals that may work synergistically to optimize human health. Fruits and vegetables provide protection against age related diseases. It is believed their high content of antioxidant compounds is key to such protection.

Objective: This research compares the antioxidant activity of whole grain, ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals to that of fruits and vegetables. Continue reading →

Potential of Wheat-Based Breakfast Cereals as a Source of Dietary Antioxidants

Alan J. Baublis, PhD, Changrun Lu, MS, Fergus M. Clydesdale, PhD, and Eric A. Decker, PhD

Coca Cola Company, Atlanta, Georgia (A.J.B.), Dept. of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts (C.L., F.M.C., E.A.D.) [edecker@foodsci.umass.edu]

Whole wheat- and wheat bran-based ready-to-eat breakfast cereals could be important sources of dietary antioxidants. Of the antioxidants in wheat, free and esterified phenolic acids seem to have the greatest potential to be beneficial to health. Phenolic acids from breakfast cereals possess strong antioxidant activity in vitro at concentrations that would be obtained from a normal serving of whole wheat cereal. Continue reading →

Mechanisms for the Impact of Whole Grain Foods on Cancer Risk

Joanne L. Slavin, PhD, RD

Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota [jslavin@che1.che.umn.edu]

Dietary guidance recommends consumption of whole grains for the prevention of cancer. Epidemiologic studies find that whole grains are protective against cancer, especially gastrointestinal cancers such as gastric and colonic, and hormonally-dependent cancers including breast and prostate. Continue reading →

Whole Grain Foods and Heart Disease Risk

James W. Anderson, MD, Tammy J. Hanna, BS, Xuejun Peng, BS, and Richard J. Kryscio, PhD

Metabolic Research Group, Nutritional Sciences, Division of Biostatistics, VA Medical Center and University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky [jwandersmd@aol.com]

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in most developed nations and is rapidly increasing in prevalence in developing countries. Death rates from cardiovascular disease exceed 1 million annually in the United States and account for the largest disease-related cost to health with total costs estimated to exceed $120 billion per annum. Continue reading →