Instore - December 2018 - 45

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The Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, which is part of General
Mills, and MB Clinical Research are working on a metanalysis review
that covers potential health benefits of whole grain. Data found on
PubMed show that since 2003, more than 600 studies were published
on protein and body weight but only about 30 were published on
whole grains and body weight, Ms. McCormick said.
"I would say there's a pretty strong reason to believe that having a
continuous stream of published science fuels the media, fuels journalists and bloggers," Ms. McCormick said.
Proving links between weight loss could be crucial for marketing.
"Weight loss is that hook to get (consumers) in, to buy your program,
buy your product," Ms. McCormick said. "They have to see weight loss
early on in any sort of diet program to stick with it or believe it."
Some diets, including the paleo diet, urge people to avoid grains.
Kathleen Zelman, director of nutrition for WebMD, said she wonders
how people could think humans are not supposed to eat grains when
they have eaten them for 10,000 years.
"It's absurd what kinds of claims are being made," she said.

Snacks in the spotlight
People want more performance from their snacks now. Whole
grains in various forms might provide fuel for such performance. Snacks nowadays make up 50% of all eating occasions,
said Melissa Abbott, vice-president of Culinary Insights for the
Hartman Group.
"Those snacks are expected to do a lot more than they used to
when many of us were growing up and snacks were more of
a treat," she said Nov. 4 in Seattle at the Whole Grains Council
Conference. "Snacks have to perform a lot better than they ever
did before. Often they must contain a lot of the ingredients that
you might find in meal-time eating occasions."
Many consumers seek snacks, and food in general, that provide
digestive benefits. These consumers respond favorably to
sprouted whole grains. Way Better Snacks offers sprouted tortilla
chips and sprouted barley crackers. Puffed millet, being less
acidic, is better for digestion, too, Ms. Abbott said.
Fiber remains the most sought-after ingredient among
consumers, according to research from the Seattle-based
Hartman Group.

Reducing inflammation and lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes are
two positives of whole grain intake, she said, and science continues to
emerge on the health effects of sprouting grains.

"Fiber to the consumer, as long as it is coming from an inherent
source, can do no wrong," Ms. Abbott said.

"There are hundreds of studies that substantiate the health benefits
of whole grains," Ms. Zelman said. "Some scientists would call this
solved science."

Food companies might wish to be cautious about promoting
specific diets. People are skipping around from diet to diet to diet,
such as from plant-based to Mediterranean to paleo.

She admitted about 1% of the population is estimated to have celiac
disease, which means they must avoid gluten-containing grains like
wheat. Another 0.2% to 0.4% are allergic to wheat, and about 5% to 6%
of the population experience non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

"So it's meal by meal and snack by snack," Ms. Abbott said.
"Consumers are actually doing (a specific diet) for much shorter
periods of time than what actually might appear in the news media."

"There are no biomarkers for it," Ms. Zelman said of non-celiac gluten
sensitivity. "There are no lab tests that can prove that you have it
or you don't. Essentially, you take gluten out of your diet, see if you
feel better. Add it back into your diet, see if you feel worse, and then
maybe you fit into this category. So it's very subjective. It's really hard
to have conditions without any real hard biomarkers."

Many people who tried gluten-free diets and other grain-free
diets are coming back to the grain category, she said. They tend
to have a higher grain I.Q. now and will be more selective in their
choice of grains. They may believe ancient or heritage grains
have higher levels of nutrients than other whole grains.
Snacks are a way for consumers to investigate such grains. Jovial,
North Stonington, Conn., sells crackers that contain einkorn.

She said she considers non-celiac gluten sensitivity a gray area.
"Not to say that it doesn't exist," Ms. Zelman said.

"This is lower risk," Ms. Abbott said. "They are much more willing
to try it in a packaged food product (than cooking with einkorn at
home)."

She pointed to a study published 2017 in the BMJ of more than
100,000 people who did not have celiac disease. It found gluten

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