June challenge: Cereal Grains

[Billie]

I will begin a few comments from this article by Loren Cordain, Department of Exercise and Sports Medicine, Colorado State University, Fort Collings, Colorado

I am only half way through the article but it is so massive, breaking it down will be easiest for me. What is huge in this study is the number of references 342 in total. Cordain brought in a rich source of comments and facts from his colleagues. The study itself also portrays many charts and references where you can see easily the difference nutritional components and breakdown. Banshee I will report the great information here some of the information you are looking at as well. It goes into great detail in vitamins A, C Beta Carotene, essenial fatty acies, amino acids.

One glimmer is that grains in the diet tend to display other calories and as you will see when I bring the nutritent information forward, you will see how little you get for the calories you take in.

Of course and sadly this study talks about the serious side of how many countries are so dependent on grains and lack protein in their diets.

More later, half way through the reading and taking notes, but as I said this study is massive.

[deirdra]

Billie, where is this study published? Does he cover the rise of food intolerance to grains?

[Billie]

Diedre, this is it
Simepoulos AP Evolutoinary Aspects of Nutrition and Health. Diet, Exercise. Genetics and Chronic Disease. World Rev Nutr Diet Basel Karger. 1999, vol 84, pp19-73

The report was from Mike's Blog and then Gabe downloaded it from there.

[Billie]

Some interesting aspects of this study include:

Only about 17 of the known 195,000 plant species produce edible parts--17 plants provide about 90% of mankinds food supply.

For the vast majority of mankind's presence on earth humans have existed as non-cereal eaters.

Although our genetic makeup has changed little in the last 40,000 years, our diet has changed dramatically.

"In most parts of the world wherever cereal based diets were first adopted as a staple food replacing the primiarily animal based diets of the hunter-gathers there was a characteristic reduction in stature, an increase in infant mortality, a reduction in lifespan, an increased incidence of infectious diseases..." p23.

What the article says about Vitamin A:

Vit A deficiency remains one of the major public health problems. 20-40 millions children worldwide are esteimated to have at least mild vit A deficiency. Although it is virtually unknown in the US and other western countries is it common in rural India where cereals can compromise the mainstay of their diet.

Eating a quantity of cereal grains tends to displace foods that are rich in antioxidants therefore allowing the body to consume calories but not calories rich in disease fighting.

What the article says about Vitamin B;

Diets based wholly upon plant food sources tend to be either low or deficient in vit B. It goes on to say that most nutritionist thinik that Vit B is in good sources in cereal grains, except for B 12. But there seems to be some argument even about that, the study stating that the two most B vitamin deficient diseases are almost exlusively associated with excessive consumption of cereal grains.

(There's alot on biotin but I am going to reread that section and give that information later).

More later...

[Gaelen]

Originally Posted by Billie

What the article says about Vitamin B;

Diets based wholly upon plant food sources tend to be either low or deficient in vit B. It goes on to say that most nutritionist thinik that Vit B is in good sources in cereal grains, except for B 12. But there seems to be some argument even about that, the study stating that the two most B vitamin deficient diseases are almost exlusively associated with excessive consumption of cereal grains....

Odd that Cordain would characterize 'most nutritionists' as thinking that cereal grains are good sources of B vitamins; nearly every nutrition-focused vegetarian diet-plus-cookbook from the '70s includes a recommendation to supplement B vitamins, especially B6 and B12, and especially if eating a vegan diet or one that uses non-chemically-enriched whole grains.

That includes "The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook", which is either the second or third edition of the book originally published (with the same information about B-vitamins) in the late '70s, and Francis Moore Lappe's "Diet for a Small Planet", which has been revised at least twice since its original publication in the mid-'70s, and which has always contained the information that vegans and people relying on whole grains that haven't been chemically 'enriched' need to supplement B vitamins. It's popular for people who advocate controlling carbs to paint all nutritionists with the same 'clueless' brush, but in this case, Cordain is off-base. Knowlegeable vegetarians have always recommended that people need to pay attention to their B-vitamin intake, and that people *must* supplement B-vitamins if they do not eat eggs and dairy. None of my nutrition-cookbooks from that era neglect this warning, even when they weren't written by a nutritionist...

[Gabriel Guzman]

Originally Posted by Gaelen

It's popular for people who advocate controlling carbs to paint all nutritionists with the same 'clueless' brush, but in this case, Cordain is off-base. Knowlegeable vegetarians have always recommended that people need to pay attention to their B-vitamin intake, and that people *must* supplement B-vitamins if they do not eat eggs and dairy. None of my nutrition-cookbooks from that era neglect this warning, even when they weren't written by a nutritionist...

I think it's just as popular for nutritionists that advocate for the whole-grain camp (including those that advocate for high-carbohydrate/low fat diets) to paint the rest of us with the same 'clueless brush' about grains. Knowlegeable doesn't necessarily mean correct. I don't doubt that those that advocate for whole-grain based diets or even vegtable-only-types of diets are knowledgeable. After all, they have spent years learning. The problem is different from not having knowledge... in my opinion the problem is about not recognizing when we're wrong.

I don't take that as the main point, however. The take-home message of Billie's contribution so far, at least for me, is not really that Cordain thinks this or that, but that the evidence he presents suggests that diets based wholly upon plant food sources tend to be either low or deficient in different vitamins, including vitamin B12 and therefore supplementation is needed under those conditions.

[laughingW]

I think Cordain represents more like what I hear than your conscientious veggie writers, Gaelen.

A simple google search on "b vitamins sources recommended nutritionist" turned up this MSNBC article. No it doesn't flat out say "grains are good for B vitamins" but it lists whole grains as something you should eat to get B vitamins.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13088848/

[laughingW]

Speaking of paleo and neolithic, have you seen this one about early figs? Check out how much smaller they are than our modern ones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5038116.stm

[Gaelen]

LaughingW, you're correct--the article you linked didn't 'flat out say "grains are good for B Vitamins"' while it did mention that grains are a potential source (listed third out of four, behind fruits and veggies and before beans.) That recommendation is actually correct (as far as it goes...which isn't nearly far enough.)

However, the article you linked, like both of the vegetarian nutritionists I mentioned, ended with this caution...
"People over 50 (whose absorption of B-12 from food may diminish) and vegetarians who avoid animal foods should take a multivitamin or a food fortified with B-12 daily to get the RDA."

Sounds nearly word-for-word like Louise Hagler, Dorothy Bates, Frances Moore Lappe or Ellen Buchman Ewald talking from the mid-70s. As I mentioned, among vegetarians who understand their own diets' nutrition, the need for vitamin B supplementation is what I'd consider common knowledge, and has been for decades. Vegetarians who focus on nutrition also pay attention to the gains and losses of vitamins, minerals and nutrients in general during harvesting, storage, cooking, fermentation and refining processes.

Gabe, I agree that the main point of Cordain's article, at least from my reading, is as you mention:

the evidence he presents suggests that diets based wholly upon plant food sources tend to be either low or deficient in different vitamins, including vitamin B12 and therefore supplementation is needed under those conditions.

For that matter, most vegetarian nutritionists agree with him, since the diet they usually use for comparison is the standard American diet--also woefully low or deficient in different vitamins and minerals and many nutrients.

I was just surprised to see Cordain suggest that nutritionists generally think plant foods provide an adequate source of B vitamins. I didn't get that from my first read of the article, although I saw it when I reviewed it again this afternoon. Unfortunately, that shows a nutritional bias on Cordain's part that's not quite borne out by the actual publications of the foundation authors of plant-based diets, even the vegan ones like Louise Hagler and Dorothy Bates. Granted, some people have diverged from those recommendations over time...and some current vegetarian authors have all but forgotten about the importance of sprouting and fermentation, for instance. But the publication history is there, and the authors who neglect the fundamentals are far from the only ones publishing.

There's at least a 35-year nutrition science publication history represented on my own bookshelves of widely read and distributed authors who understand that part of the foundation of incorporating any significant amount of plant foods into diet also recognizes the nutritional limits, where they exist, and understands that B-vitamins always require supplementation--especially so in plant-based diets. I was surprised that Cordain appeared to have overlooked that history in the process of advancing his own argument.

[Ottawa]

I believe that Niacin (B3) used to be added to help fortify cereals (emblazoned or "Kellogg's Corn Flakes" years ago). It also exists naturally in grains such as corn and wheat in bound forms.

This is not an endorsement for cereals as a source of B vitamins. As mentioned in several posts above, there is a deficiency of several other B's.

The only grain that I use on a regular basis is ground flaxseed as a filler in baking or thickening agent in shakes. It lists negligible amounts of vitamins.