Baking & Snack - August 2007 - 7

EDITORIAL

Baking&Snack
EDITORIAL STAFF
Executive Editor
Laurie Gorton
lgorton@sosland.com

Going a Whole Lot Crazy

uinoa shampoo? Amaranth conditioner? Barley body wash? Whole-wheat lotion?
Flaxseed soap? Enough already!
These toiletries graced the most recent hotel room I occupied. Maybe they
wouldn't qualify as "whole grain" under labeling regulations, but they certainly
played up their grain content. OK, at this point, I admit that I stock my home shower with
a bathing gel containing oatmeal colloids.
Does it seem to you that the world has gone a little crazy over whole grains? But it's a
good crazy.
One measure of the growing popularity of whole-grain foods is the number of foods now
qualified to carry the Whole Grain Council's whole-grain stamp: more than 1,000 different
products already.
Globally, whole-grain foods are expected to reach $21 billion in sales by 2010, according
to Global Industry Analysts, a research firm based at San Jose, CA. The company pegged the
2006 size of the US market for whole-grain foods at $5.6 billion.
For bakers - indeed for the entire grain-based foods industry - whole grains came along
just in time. Sunk in the low-carb doldrums, the industry's fortunes were lifted by the attention given to whole grains by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new guidelines
changed the recommended proportion of whole grains to enriched flour products.
Referring to the daily recommendation of six to 11 servings of grain-based foods, the
2000 edition simply stated, "Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains." But
the 2005 guidelines sharpened this to a minimum recommendation of three servings daily
of 1-oz equivalents of whole grains.
In a parallel development, hard white winter wheat reached commercialization, and millers jumped to offer new whole white wheat flours. What resulted was a flowering of new
products boasting whole-wheat nutrition with white wheat flavor and appeal. Rising consumer interest in whole grains allowed bakers to introduce their new whole-wheat products
as premium-priced items.
Bread, historically, has been a price-sensitive food. Higher prices generally mean lower
volume movement. Today's poundage numbers bear this out, but they do so in a climate
of rising sales figures.
But even better, whole grains are good for the body. The health claim linking consumption of fruits, vegetables and grains to reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease was
among the first such claims authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. As nutritionists and medical scientists looked further into the dietary role of whole grains, they found
additional benefits linking these foods to protection against obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and even the aging process itself. Because whole-grain products cater to the continuing
American interest in health and wellness, this is a food trend that's here to stay.
So go crazy. Invent new whole-grain foods, market them
and then go back to the bench and devise more.
The Whole Grains Council named September Whole Grains
Month. (Check WGC's Web site, www.wholegrainscouncil.org,
for more details.) What better time to introduce new wholegrain products? La Brea Bakery, Van Nuys, CA, is launching its
new Whole Grain baguette and Whole Wheat & Honey loaf in
time for the celebration.
Ah, the restorative power of whole grains! They have certainly done the baking industry good.
- Laurie Gorton, executive editor
lgorton@sosland.com

8 / BAKING & SNACK / August 2007

Editor

Steve Berne
sberne@sosland.com

Managing Editor

Holly Bradley
hbradley@sosland.com

Associate Editor

Jennifer Barnett Fox
jfox@sosland.com

Associate Editor

Kimberlie Clyma
kclyma@sosland.com

Senior Editor

Shane Whitaker
swhitaker@sosland.com

Contributing Editors:

Columnists:

Donna Berry
Rebeca López-García
Richard F. Stier
Jim Kline
jkline@theensolgroup.com
Anne Giesecke, Ph. D.
info@a-dpolicyanalysis.com

DESIGN STAFF
Design Services Manager

Sadowna Conarroe

Designer

Jennifer Cheek

Manager of Advertising Design
Classified Ad Layout

Becky White

Christina Sullivan

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Charles S. Sosland
Vice-chairman
L. Joshua Sosland
President
Mark Sabo
Publishing Director
G. Michael Gude
Publisher
Paul Lattan
Vice-President,
Chief Financial Officer
Melanie Hepperly
Audience Development Director Don Keating
Advertising Manager
Nora Wages
Ad Materials Coordinator
Debbie Maniez
Digital Systems Analyst
Marj Potts
Circulation Manager
Sheryl Morrow
Marketing Communications
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Carrie Fluegge
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Baking & Snack - August 2007

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