Loving legumes

Good for your health & the environment

Join the cultures around the world that believe eating legumes, specifically black-eyed peas and lentils on New Year's Day, will bring prosperity and good fortune. At Go Grains Health & Nutrition we know that enjoying legumes on any day of the year will bring more than prosperity and good fortune - good health too! Not only are legumes cheap (tick for prosperity), they are versatile, a great source of fibre, contain plenty of vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates for energy and a great non-meat protein alternative. People who eat legumes have a decreased risk of many diseases such as Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Cancer.

Sometimes known as pulses, legumes are the dried edible seeds of legume plants such as lentils, beans and peas. The main legumes available in Australia include: chickpeas, soy beans, navy beans (more commonly known as baked beans), brown lentils, red lentils, cannellini beans, lima beans (butter beans), broad beans (fava beans), red kidney beans, mung beans, peanuts (yes, peanuts are technically a legume), split peas, black-eyed peas, adzuki beans and pinto beans.

Legumes are a very important contributor to a healthy diet, yet so many people are missing out. Research conducted by Go Grains Health & Nutrition in 2009 found that Australians (n=1700) on average are eating only 1/3 of a serve of legumes (1 serve = 1/2 cup cooked, 75g) a day. Painting an even bleaker picture, research from the 2007 National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey found only 4.9-7.3% of children aged 2-16 years ate legumes the day before they were interviewed for the study.

Legumes are inexpensive, easy to prepare and very nutritious - rich in protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, particularly B vitamins, iron, zinc, calcium and magnesium, and they are also low in fat! You might already be eating legumes without realising it - baked beans, dahl, hummus and falafels are all made with legumes.

One of the most common reasons cited for not eating more legumes is lack of knowledge about how to cook and prepare them. To improve their nutritional value, digestibility and reduce effects of flatulence you should always soak raw, dry legumes before consumption.

• Quick soak - add 3 cups of water to each cup of legumes in a saucepan. Bring to boil and remove from heat. Cover and leave for 1-2 hours. Rinse before cooking.
• Slow soak - soak legumes covered with plenty of water in a cool place for 4-8 hours (overnight is best), then drain and rinse before cooking.
• Cooking - place soaked legumes into a saucepan and cover with fresh water. Bring to boil and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs until tender. Added salt will prolong the cooking time.

If this is all too hard, then pre-cooked (canned) legumes are very convenient. You could drain and rinse them before cooking to remove excess sodium from the water.

Including legumes in your diet can lead to positive changes, especially in terms of dietary fibre which can help you to feel fuller for longer. Regular legume consumption can help reduce the risk of diseases such as CHD, cancer and T2DM by decreasing cholesterol and triglycerides, high antioxidant content and anti inflammatory compounds along with the positive effects of fibre and blood glucose control. If you are not used to eating legumes, introduce small amounts into your meals initially to give your digestive system time to adjust to the higher fibre content (resulting in less production of gas).

Legumes are good for you and the environment. Legume crops have a positive impact on the environment. Legume roots produce their own nitrogen which is taken from the air and converted into a form the plant can use. When the legume crop is harvested, excess organic nitrogen (a great fertiliser) is left behind and can be used by other plants, making legumes great rotation crops.

For recipes containing the goodness of legumes visit the recipe section of the Go Grains website.

New year, new diet? Not again!

Make lifestyle changes you can sustain

Welcome to January, aka 'diet season', when New Year nutrition and exercise resolutions are made after overindulgence throughout the festive season. Bad habits are thrown out the window and promises are made to oneself that this time it will be different. The latest Hollywood fad diets engulf magazines and newspapers, and we grasp onto a glimmer of hope that one of these might just work this time.

Shaking their heads in despair, our Go Grains Health & Nutrition Accredited Practising Dietitian's (APD's) have already summed up some of the crazy diet plans for 2010. Here is the low down why they are not worth your time (and money) and how they can be worse off for you in the long-term.

• The 'Morning Banana Diet' - there are no surprises here! You will lose weight if you eat only a banana for breakfast, don't eat after 8pm, avoid all alcohol and sweets, and get adequate rest plus daily exercise. This is a mix of 'diet hype' and sensible advice. You might lose weight in the short term since you will probably be eating far fewer kilojoules than usual but lack of variety and your grumbling tummy will inevitably have you diving for the cookie jar before long. A fulfilling breakfast including wholegrain/high fibre breakfast cereals and muesli, wholegrain toast, eggs, low-fat dairy and other delicious fruits is a much more satisfying and nutritious start to the day.
  
  
• The 'Calorie Shifting Diet' - diets that involve dramatic diet changes for short periods of time are usually doomed to crumble in the long term. Cutting out entire food groups is not healthy. It is a much better idea to eat healthy foods (in sensible portions) so your metabolism can function normally. The concept of cycling high protein one day, then high carbohydrate the next is meant to confuse your metabolism to burn more fat. There is no evidence that this actually happens and in fact it is more likely to be the reverse - rapid weight loss is associated with muscle wasting, which will slow your metabolism. Beginning an exercise program that includes weight training will increase your metabolism the healthy way. Any weight loss achieved on this diet will result from eating less (no more than 7500kJ), regular exercise (at least 30mins each day) and limiting high kilojoule beverages such as alcohol and soft drinks - normal healthy weight loss principles. Instead of worrying about what food group you mustn't eat today, put in the extra effort to practice modifying new recipes to make them healthier for you and your family. Use ingredients that are in season, on special and of course what you enjoy.
  
  
• The 'Low Carb Diet' - again! Not exactly new, but one of the most misunderstood diet myths of all time. The important thing to remember is that carbohydrates come in all shapes and sizes, and some are better for us than others. Bread, pasta, breakfast cereals and fruit are much healthier carbohydrate-containing foods than soft-drinks, ice-cream, yoghurt, lollies and chocolate which are much less so. Grain-based foods like breads, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals (preferably wholegrain), along with legumes, fruits and vegetables provide protein, fibre and essential vitamins and are an important part of a healthy balanced diet. Cutting out carbs can slow your metabolism and have negative effects on your mood. If you are still convinced by 'low carb' make sure it's lollies, chocolates, cakes, biscuits, pastries and alcohol you are cutting out and not the goodness of grains, wholegrains, legumes, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products.
  
  
• 'Cookie Diet' or 'Tapeworm Diet' - let's not even go there.

It is hard not to have a glimmer of hope when reading these diets, but please don't believe the hype. The awful truth is it takes hard work and discipline to lose weight and maintain it. The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) in Amercia tracks people who have successfully lost at least 13.6kg and maintained this weight loss for at least 1 year. This data shows that 78% of successful dieters eat breakfast every day, 75% weight themselves at least once a week, 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week and 90% exercise on average about 1 hour per day. Their hard work pays off with 95% of NWCR participants noticing improvements in quality of life, 92% noticing increases in energy levels and 91% reporting decreases in depressive symptoms.

Learn to love food; eat a wide variety of healthy everyday foods you prepare including wholegrains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, lean meat, poultry, fish and nuts. Try new recipes, mind your portion sizes and exercise every day.

Introducing sorghum

Climate and weight friendly grain
Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world after wheat, rice, corn and barley. And it's easy to understand why - sorghum is highly drought and heat tolerant plus lab tests have found it has higher antioxidant activity than other cereals and fruit.

Typically a stock feed, with the majority of Australia's harvest used as feed grains to the beef, dairy, pig, poultry or pet food industry, sorghum is not used widely as a food for human consumption in Australia. Sorghum is highly drought and heat tolerant, with about 60% of Australia's crop grown in the hot regions of Queensland and Northern NSW. Able to grow without much water, sorghum is generally very economical and also a good rotation crop. With constant reminders of climate change a concern amoungst scientists, politicians and everyday Australian's, sorghum could be utilised as a sustainable crop for human consumption.

Food chemist and researcher Stuart Johnson from Curtin University is working with food manufacturers Sanitarium and George Weston Foods who are already using sorgham in some products like breads and breakfast cereals, to help boost the use of this former stock-feed grain in the Australian food industry. This idea is not new in some parts of the world, where sorghum is relied upon as a staple food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia. Foods prepared with sorghum include popcorn, porridge, flour for baked goods and it is even brewed into beer. As sorghum is naturally gluten free, it is a great alternative to gluten-containing grains like wheat, barley and rye for those people with coeliac disease.

Although more research needs to be done, lab studies have found that wholegrain sorghum has a higher antioxidant activity compared to other cereals and fruits. It has a lower protein content than other cereals, but is a good source of B vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin b6, biotin and niacin; important for many vital body processes including energy metabolism. Also relatively high in potassium and phosphorus, like most other wholegrains sorghum is also high in dietary fibre.

Coloured varieties of sorghum (red, brown and black) are particularly rich sources of various phytochemicals, and animal studies have shown encouraging results for the use of this grain to help in the fight against type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers via its antioxidant properties, and obesity by suppressing appetite.

According to some, sorghum has huge potential, given its agronomic properties in favour of climate change and cost effectiveness, in addition to the emerging science behind its promising benefits in human health and disease. Whilst currently limited to health food shops and a small range of supermarket product lines, stay tuned as prospective clinical research trials are expected to give support to sorghum becoming more widespread in our food supply to aid in the battle against chronic disease.

Santa should eat more wholegrains

Wholegrains associated with smaller waistlines

If more kids left Santa a wholegrain cookie and a glass of low-fat milk perhaps his waistline would be somewhat trimmer. Recent research from the US in over 400 older adults has found that in those who ate wholegrains there was an association between lower percent body fat mass and lower percent waist fat mass (measured by dual-energy-X-Ray-absorptiometry). The researchers found a dose-dependent response in 60-80 year olds who enjoy wholegrain foods such as wholemeal & mixed grain bread, wholegrain breakfast cereals with greater than 25% wholegrains, brown rice, popcorn, porridge and other grains; ever more reason to eat more wholegrains. The authors state the dietary fibre from predominately wholegrain cereals appears to be more protective against the development of chronic disease compared with fruit or vegetable fibre.

The result of this study add to the growing body of evidence from other epidemiological studies that have shown middle-aged adults who eat more wholegrains have a lower body mass index (BMI) and central obesity, and tend to gain weight less significantly than those who eat mainly refined grains.

With abdominal adiposity a major risk factor for many chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and some cancers, the Australian government recommends Australian women keep their waist circumference under 80cm and men under 94cm to reduce the risk of these chronic health problems.

Like many other studies, the average intake of wholegrains in this study population was low suggesting we should all be eating more wholegrains to help combat growing waistlines and chronic health problems. Switching your breakfast cereal or bread to one containing wholegrains is one of the easiest things you can do to increase your wholegrain intake.

In this study, the association between wholegrain intake and abdominal body fat remained significant after adjustment for refined grain. So the take home message is - you can still include refined grain foods such as pasta, white rice and white bread as part of a healthy and varied diet when you include wholegrains too. Do Santa's waistline a favour and offer wholegrains this Christmas.

Go Grains Health & Nutrition recommends all Australian adults eat a least 48g of wholegrains every day. Click here to visit the wholegrains page of the Go Grain website, where you will find loads of helpful information on wholegrains; including some common examples of wholegrain foods and their approximate wholegrain content, a visual guide of how to reach the 48g daily target for wholegrains and information on the health benefits of choosing wholegrain.

Gluten free

Trend, friend or foe?

Towards the top of food trend prediction lists over the past few years, gluten free products have made a grand entrance, but are they here to stay? This once niche market, come latest food trend, is taking up more space than ever on supermarket shelves with statistics from the US suggesting the gluten free market has grown exponentially by 30% each year, for the past 5 years.
A gluten free diet is an essential part of the management of coeliac disease (pronounced seel-ee-ak) and non-coeliac gluten intolerance, but it offers no specific benefit for the average healthy consumer. Coeliac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder which, in the presence of gluten, causes the small intestine to become inflamed and lose its ability to absorb nutrients from food. Gluten is the protein found in foods containing wheat (and wheat-related grains such as spelt), barley, oats and rye.
Around 1 in 100 Australians have coeliac disease, but many more may be unaware they have it - the Coeliac Society of Australia estimates 75% of people with the condition remain undiagnosed. Correct medical diagnosis by small bowel biopsy is the first step in deciding if a life-long strict gluten free diet is necessary.
In addition to those with coeliac disease, the number of people believing they are gluten intolerant appears to be growing. Whether this represents a true increase, or is due to more people being tested, better technology, and/or larger numbers of people being misdiagnosed or self-diagnosed remains unclear.
Gluten free diets are often claimed to assist in the treatment of disorders such as autism, multiple sclerosis and attention deficit disorder. While there are proponents of such treatments, the scientific evidence to support the use of gluten free diets for situations other than coeliac disease or gluten intolerance is generally lacking.
Whatever the reason, interest in gluten free diets has 'boomed', fuelled by the combination of much greater availability of gluten free products (resulting from food manufacturers responding to market opportunity) and increased media attention on the issue. This increasing interest may be falsely interpreted to imply that gluten free foods are better for us, whereas in fact, these products do not offer any additional health benefits over regular products for people who are not gluten intolerant.
From a dietary perspective, gluten free products can be expensive, are often lower in dietary fibre and wholegrains, and bread made from these grains will not be fortified with folic acid. Gluten free grains such as rice, corn, quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), buckweat and amaranth provide dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals, (especially in their wholegrain form) but it can be challenging to achieve a nutritionally adequate diet using ingredients that are less familiar and that may not have the same functionality in cooking. Check out the recipes section of the Go Grains website for some delicious recipes using rice and quinoa.
Australian dietary guidelines recommend that a diet for healthy adults, teenagers and children should include 'Plenty of cereals (including breads, rice, pasta and noodles), preferably wholegrain'. Whether you are four, fourteen or forty, aim to include at least '4+serves a day' of grain-based foods in your diet.
If you suspect you may have coeliac disease, it is best not to self-diagnose. Don't go 'gluten free' before you see your doctor to confirm the diagnosis. If the diagnosis is positive, arrange to see an accredited practising dietitian (APD) who will help plan a balanced diet.
Useful references:
http://www.coeliacsociety.com.au/

Bread to boost brain performance

Bakers required to use iodised salt in bread

In last month's E-News we wrote about the new mandatory addition of folic acid to wheat flour for bread-making, introduced to help reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in babies. This month we can report that bread has also become a source of iodine - 3-4 slices (100g) of bread now provides around 46ug of iodine. A seemingly micro amount, this is actually almost one third of the daily requirement of iodine for Australian adults and over one third of the recommended amount for children. This is a step in the right direction to help combat the world's most preventable cause of mental retardation - iodine deficiency.

Mandatory fortification of all commercial breads (except organic bread) with iodised salt came into force on 9th October 2009. No additional salt is being added to bread, bakers will simply use iodised salt instead of standard salt hoping to reduce a re-emergence of iodine deficiency amongst many Australians. We only need about 1 teaspoon in a lifetime, however iodine is an essential trace mineral needed for regulation of normal growth and metabolism and is crucial at certain stages of foetal development during pregnancy and early childhood. The body can only store a small amount and regular top ups are needed from a variety of foods in a healthy balanced diet. Iodine is naturally found in foods such as oysters, fish, tuna, sushi (seaweed), dairy products and eggs.

A recent study published by Gordon et al in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that iodine supplementation can improve cognition in even mildly deficient children. This is good news considering the National Iodine Nutrition Study conducted in 2003-04 found that mainland Australian children on average are borderline iodine deficient, with NSW and Victorian children being mildly iodine deficient. Although the amount supplemented in this study was three times greater than the amount now found in 100g of bread (fortified with iodised salt), Food Standard Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) expects mandatory iodine fortification to reduce inadequate iodine intakes from 43% to less than 5% in the Australian population.

Useful references:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/mediareleases/mediareleases2009/8october2009essentia4477.cfm

Creswell et al. Are Australian children iodine deficient? Results of the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study. MJA 2006;184:165-169.

Gordon et al. Iodine supplementation improves cognition in mildly iodine-deficient children. AJCN 2009;90(5):1264-1271.

Folic acid now mandatory in bread

Neural tube defects in babies set to fall

There is now another reason for Australian's to enjoy the goodness of bread! To reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in up to 50 babies a year, as of the 13th September 2009, folic acid fortification of wheat flour for bread making is now mandatory in Australia.

Folate, occurring naturally in green leafy vegetables, is a B-group vitamin essential for growth and development of cells and a healthy nervous system. Especially important during times of rapid growth, it is recommended women planning to or who may become pregnant should consume an additional 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to help reduce the risk of neural tube defects in the newborn baby such as Spina Bifida.

Public health education initiatives have failed to help women of child-bearing age reach folic acid targets. So, now Australian flour millers are required to add between 2-3mg/kg of folic acid per kilogram of flour, which equates to around 120 micrograms of folic acid per 100g of bread (2-3 slices), which can help provide the additional protection against neural tube defects. To reach higher targets associated with pregnancy, women are still encouraged to consume a daily folic acid supplement at least 1 month before and 3 months after conception, as well as 'eating their daily bread'.

Folic acid fortification of wheat flour for bread making will include all plain, fancy and sweet breads and rolls, bagels, foccacia, English muffins, flat breads (containing yeast) and flour mixes for home bread-making. Other products that might be made with bread-making flour include crumpets, scones, pancakes, pikelets, crepes, yeast donuts, pizza bases and crumbed products. Packaged flour sold for domestic use, organic bread, or bread made from grains other than wheat are not required to contain folic acid, however, manufacturers may add folic acid if they wish.

Mandatory folic acid fortification has been used safely in the United States and Canada for over 10 years and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) will be monitoring the effectiveness of the increased levels of folic acid in the food supply.

Keep an eye out for another great reason to eat bread in October, when the use of iodised salt for bread-making will become mandatory.

Already one of the leading sources of fibre in the diets of Australians, low in fat, a source of protein, thiamin, niacin and now folic acid, there are plenty of reasons to enjoy the goodness of bread!

Source:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/factsheets/factsheets2009/mandatoryfolicacidfo4442.cfm