WHO and FAO back proposals to boost consumption

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) are callin…

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) are calling on international governments to incentivize food manufacturers to include more whole grain in their products.

The organizations are teaming up with the Whole Grain Initiative (WGI) for the third International Whole Grain Day, which fell yesterday, to promote whole grain and its role in healthy and sustainable diets.

As recently highlighted in the 2021 Whole Grain Summit by Francesco Branca from the WHO, the low intake of whole grains is a global concern in high-income and low-income countries. It also has an impact on dietary fiber intake.

A three-pronged approach
Specifically, the entities are calling for three proposed measures to help increase whole grain consumption via public understanding and incentivizing food manufacturers.

The first is rolling out consistent dietary guidelines emphasizing whole grains. More than 100 countries have developed, or are currently developing, food-based dietary guidelines. Greater focus on whole grains is needed in both the guidelines and the supporting images or food guides, states the WGI.

Next is clear front-of-pack labels recognizing the contribution of whole grain. The WGI argues that front-of-pack labels have been proven to be effective tools to help consumers identify healthier food products and have been recommended by the WHO as a tool to help prevent non-communicable diseases.

In this space, Australia’s Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council recently developed a certified trademarked whole grain logo for items containing between 25-100% of whole grain ingredients.

Finally, education and awareness-raising campaigns on the benefits of whole grain can help the cause. For example, a whole grain campaign run by the Danish Whole Grain Partnership in collaboration with the Danish government and other health non-profit organizations increased average whole grain intake from 32-82 g per 10 mJ per day post-campaign.

The WGI supports the adoption of similar strategies in other countries and contexts as a path toward increasing whole grain intake.

An environmentally-friendly choice
In addition to highlighting the health issues associated with low whole-grain consumption, the organizations also point to environmental benefits associated with whole grains.

“As highlighted by the coverage of COP26, climate change and global population growth are at the forefront of most discussions about food policy and
agriculture. Many consumers are eating more plant-based foods in an effort to make choices that are healthy for themselves and their planet,” states the WGI.

It adds that there is “strong and consistent” evidence that whole grains play a major role in healthy and sustainable dietary patterns, as highlighted in several recent meta-analyses, WHO and FAO publications, the EAT-Lancet Commission report and the Global Burden of Disease studies.

Encouragingly, a recent survey found that since the COVID-19 pandemic, one in five US consumers say they are eating more whole grains, and half have increased their intake in the last five years.

A Finnish study last month also revealed that whole grain foods could reduce Type 2 diabetes cases, which could save between €300 million (US$349 million) to almost €1 billion (US$1.2 billion) over the next ten years in treatment cost savings.