Topics of and related to health and nutrition of cereals and pulses, alone and in products and ingredients derived from these plant materials. Adjunct topics may also include social impact of health and nutrition initiatives, medical reports, and other related topics.

The Grains for Health Foundation, AACC International, and the Historical Minnesota Miller
(Open Access to this CFW online article)
In 1901, Colonel George D. Rogers presented a “History of Flour Manufacture in Minnesota” at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society. At the time of his presentation, Minnesota enjoyed the peak of her milling heyday, exporting flour internationally and winning prizes for the quality of the product (9). Rogers details the ingenuity of Minnesotans along with their ability to take on key partnerships, both domestic and international, that made the Minnesota milling industry thrive. Because of grain business’s successful past in this region, Minnesotans live uniquely positioned among multiple grain-based businesses and excellent institutions of grain research. It is a natural result that the Grains for Health Foundation (GHF) formed in February 2009 in Minnesota (U.S.A.) through the cooperation of multiple grain business partners, both domestic and international, and in collaboration with AACC Intl.

Bioengineering for Human Health
Organizers: Brian Beecher, USDA-ARS, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.; Tandace Scholdberg, USDA-GIPSA, Kansas City, MO, U.S.A.
Sponsoring Committee: Biotechnology Subdivision
The majority of transgenes currently in the marketplace relate to traits relevant to crop production, such as insect, herbicide, and pathogen resistance. Most consumers perceive little direct benefit to themselves from this current generation of transgenic crops. However, it is now increasingly recognized that additional bioengineering efforts are well on the way to producing products designed to offer positive benefits to the consumer. These efforts take the form of increased nutritional content, increased levels of health-promoting substances, and the reduction of risk associated with naturally occurring allergens or toxins. This symposium aims to provide information about how bioengineering can improve the human condition by changing food composition in ways that improve it for human consumption.

Celiac Disease: A Multidisciplinary Point of View
Organizers: Peter Koehler, German Research Center for Food Chemistry, Freising, Germany; Jodi Engleson, Grains for Health Foundation, St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Financial Sponsors: R-Biopharm AG, General Mills, Inc., Romer Labs  
In genetically susceptible individuals, the ingestion of gluten triggers an immune-related entheropathy known as celiac disease (CD). CD is a multidisciplinary issue. Research is being conducted aimed at understanding the mechanisms that trigger CD. Because patients have to adhere to a strict, lifelong, gluten-free diet, methods are required to properly prepare gluten-free foods and to check whether they are in fact gluten-free. Novel approaches are aimed at using gluten-containing raw materials and degrading gluten during food processing, thereby providing gluten-free food with nutritional, textural, and sensory attributes that are comparable to those of gluten-containing foods. Another promising way to deal with CD is to use specific peptidases as drugs, which extensively hydrolyze dietary gluten and, thus, inhibit toxic gluten peptides from entering the small intestine. The symposium gives an overview of current activities related to CD and gluten-free foods.

Avenanthramides in oats: A new method of producing whole oats and oat ingredients with greatly elevated avenanthramide levels
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F. Collins. Agric & Agri-Food Canada
Avenanthramides, of which over 35 distinct components have been found to date, represent the major readily-bioavailable, soluble phenolics present in the oat kernel These hydroxycinnamoyl alkaloids are found only in oats and have been shown to not only act as antioxidants but also to inhibit the pro-inflammatory processes associated with atherosclerotic disease progression. Based on recent in vivo pharmacokinetic results in humans and in vitro human vascular cell culture models, effective concentrations of avenanthramides required to influence vascular antioxidant status and the inflammatory response can be provisionally projected. Threshold response levels (approximately 30 to 60 mg from a dietary source delivery system such as a 50 g serving of oat bran) would require an oat product with at least 600 to 1,200 ppm total avenanthramides. This is a significantly higher concentration range than those currently recorded for existing oat varieties or existing whole grain oat products. Recently a process has been found that significantly increases the levels of avenanthramides in native oat kernels.

New Milling and Pretreatment Technologies for Changing Functionality and Nutritional Profiles of Flours
Organizer: Girish Ganjyal, PepsiCo, Plano, TX, U.S.A.
Sponsoring Committee: Engineering and Processing
Milling science and technology have evolved over time. There have been various advancements in the pretreatment technologies for milling. The symposium will cover various advances in pretreatment technologies that help change the functional and nutritional profiles of flours.

Whole Grains Unraveled
Organizers: Bruce Hamaker, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, U.S.A.; Brinda Govindarajan, Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.
Sponsoring Committee: Carbohydrate Division, Nutrition Division
The science cafe format will be used to explore the topic of whole grains in the context of what factors lead to positive health outcomes. A keynote speaker will provide background material on studies relating different components of whole grains to health. This will be followed by a series of short presentations on specific components with mechanistic relationships to beneficial physiologic effect and a panel discussion.

Cereal Nutrition
(Open Access to this e-Chapter)
Julie Miller Jones, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN
This 32-page chapter from Breakfast Cereals and How They Are Made, 2nd edition (2000, edited by R. B. Fast and E. F. Caldwood) discusses the role, consumption patterns, and benefits of breakfast cereals, particularly ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals. Citing a variety of studies, it looks at cereals as a source of protein, fats and fatty acids, carbohydrate, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. Several tables give the content of these nutritional elements in brand-name cereals, and an extensive bibliography is provided. The disadvantages of skipping breakfast and the convenience and healthfulness of RTE cereals are emphasized. In particular, data show that people who eat RTE cereals have diets higher in fiber and lower in fats than those who don’t eat these cereals. The advantages and disadvantages of sugar, the role of fiber, types of fiber, and fortification of cereal are discussed. An appendix contains selected definitions from the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations concerning health claims.
 

Grains for Health Foundation—Creating Positive Change for Public Health
(Open Access to this CFW online article)
The mission of the GHF, established in February 2009, is to assist in redesigning the food supply by facilitating the development, delivery, and consumption of grain-based foods that promote a balanced body weight, reduce chronic disease, and curb healthcare costs. Our initial objective is to promote the gradual introduction of grain-based foods into schools that have a higher whole grain and dietary fiber content and are lower in total calories and fat.

A synergistic approach to functional product development
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M.E. Camire. University of Maine, Orono, ME.
Nutrition research tends to focus on evaluation of a single nutrient, phytochemical or food on one aspect of human health. Marketing of healthful foods likewise often emphasizes one health benefit or claim for a product. New approaches are needed to develop and promote foods that provide multiple health benefits for consumers. Food ingredients have been blended to provide complementary amino acids profiles. Could this model be adapted to create new foods with different types of benefits? Products could be formulated to target varying aspects of health. For example, a “heart-healthy” breakfast cereal could contain psyllium and oat bran for reducing cholesterol, cranberries for inflammation inhibition, and blueberries and added potassium and calcium to lower blood pressure. A line extension for gut health could substitute dried plums, wheat bran and probiotics. Examples of synergistic foods from around the world and new possibilities for product development will be critiqued. Healthful grains provide the basis for many exciting new designed foods.

The Second C&E Spring Meeting and Third International Whole Grain Global Summit
(Open Access to this CFW online article)
Progress has been made with respect to whole grains on many fronts. Participants at the Third International Whole Grain Summit held in Newcastle, U.K., in late March 2009 agreed that there have been many steps forward since the first (Porvoo, Finland) and the second (Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.) whole grain summits. Despite this, there are a number of areas where further research is needed because of confounding and other issues. The confounding was underscored when intervention data and carefully designed meta-analyses and reviews failed to corroborate findings from many observational studies. Participants welcome further research to help clarify the relationship between whole grains and health outcomes, the effects of processing on whole grain bioactives, and physiological mechanisms.

Dietary fibers, cardiovascular health and cholesterol
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T.S. Kahlon. Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, Albany, CA.
Elevated levels of plasma cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides have been associated with increased risk of premature coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and stroke. Dietary fibers from oats, barley and rice have been shown to lower cholesterol in a variety of animal species and hypercholesterolemic subjects. The “healthful” potential of cereal fibers have been screened by evaluating bile acid binding capacity. The bile acid binding potential have been associated with the ability to lower cholesterol by reducing fat absorption and utilization of cholesterol to synthesize additional bile acids. Whole grain foods, rather than fortified refined foods with separated dietary fibers, are recommended. Increased consumption of whole grains and cereal dietary fibers would result in improved cardiovascular health in the world population by lowering lipids and lipoproteins. 

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