Can You Spot the Whole Grain?

Whole-grain foods are healthy for you because they contain more fiber and nutrients. But food labels and ingredient lists can be deceiving. Here's how to tell if you're buying the real thing:

It's whole grain if it's called:

• Brown rice

• Buckwheat

• Bulgur or cracked wheat

• Millet

• Quinoa

• Sorghum

• Triticale

• Wheat berries

• Whole-grain barley or pearled barley

• Whole-grain corn

• Whole oats or oatmeal

• Whole rye

• Whole spelt

• Whole wheat

• Wild rice

It's not whole grain if it's called:

• Corn flour

• Cornmeal

• Degerminated cornmeal

• Enriched flour

• Multigrain (this simply means it's composed of various grains, not necessarily whole)

• Pumpernickel

• Rice

• Rice flour

• Rye flour or rye

• Stone-ground wheat (if whole grain, product should say stone-ground whole wheat on the label)

• Wheat

• Wheat flour

• Wheat germ (it's not a whole grain, but wheat germ is still good for you)

• Unbleached wheat flour

Tip: Look at where the whole grain falls in the ingredients list. Foods are listed in order of weight, starting with the heaviest. If a whole grain is the only grain listed, that's great. But often, you'll see wheat flour (white flour) as the first ingredient, followed by some sort of sweetener, then whole-wheat flour. This means there might be just a trace amount.