Wheat has come under repeated fire in recent years — from the ‘Wheat Belly’ fad diet to Kim Kardashian and other celebrities championing gluten free as being a healthier diet for everyone (not just those with celiac disease or gluten intolerance).
By and large, however, consumers today don’t think wheat is bad, said Ellen Pruden, director of communications for Cereals Canada.
The industry group would like to keep it that way.
Cereals Canada recently launched a new website called WhatAboutWheat.ca and says it’s a catch-all resource on wheat for dietitians and ordinary ‘eaters.’ The website (which is also backed by Alberta Wheat and other farm groups) bills itself as the “best source of up-to-date, science-based wheat nutrition information.”
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“Our goal is to make it simple for nutrition professionals to find and share wheat nutrition information with clients, and for consumers to learn more about wheat,” Elaine Sopiwnyk, Cereals Canada’s vice-president of technical services, said in a release.
The site contains a ‘Wheat 101’ section, which walks through the basics of what wheat is, how it’s grown (taking care to specify that no genetically modified wheat varieties grow in Canada), and what products come from wheat.
For instance, it defines the difference between 100 per cent whole grain, whole wheat flour and ordinary whole wheat flour. (Regular whole wheat is missing five per cent of the grain kernel including most of the germ and some of the bran. This increases shelf life.)
‘Canada’s wheat story’ elaborates on farming practices, and where wheat goes once it leaves the farm.
The site contains nutrition research from peer-reviewed research data and also has a five-person, science advisory council, including Micheal Gänzle, a U of Alberta professor and Canada Research Chair in food microbiology and probiotics.
The website will also serve as a resource for wheat organizations and producer groups across Canada, which until now have lacked a unified resource, said Pruden.
Cereals Canada will conduct seminars for dietitians to familiarize them with the wheat resource.
It will also collaborate with IlCereales, the Latin America Cereals Institute, to reach dietitians in Latin American countries that buy Canadian wheat.
– With staff files
