Fiber is the Future

Granola is a sneaky thing. It’s one of those foods that for whatever reason has been granted an undeserved health halo. Despite its healthy appearance, traditional granola is chock full of oil and sugar, packing a lot of calories without much nutritional bang for your buck.

But KIND Healthy Grains puts a new spin on an old favorite. Instead of just doctoring up plain old oatmeal, these hearty clusters feature a variety of whole grains: the Maple Walnut Clusters have added chia and quinoa and Cinnamon Oat and Vanilla Blueberry flavors have flaxseed.

The Oat and Honey Clusters with Toasted Coconut that I sampled – thanks to product sent by KIND – contained a laundry list of hearty grains: brown rice, millet, buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa, with some chicory root further down the ingredient list for additional fiber. The texture was crisp and the flavors pleasing, without being overly sweet.

Even more impressive than the flavor is the nutritional makeup: all that flavor for so little added salt and sugar! A 1/3 cup serving provides:

• 130 calories
• 4 g fat
• 20 mg sodium
• 3 g fiber
• 6 g sugar
• 3 g protein

Healthy Grains come in six flavors and can be eaten as a cereal or as a a finger food snack. These Healthy Grains are a great addition to the high fiber snack world, and the “It’s About Time!” product the granola world has been waiting for!

A new study to be published in the February issue of the journal Gastroenterology appears to show that the formerly friendly relationship between fiber and diverticular disease prevention has soured.

The article – which doesn’t beat around the bush with its austere title, “A High-Fiber Diet Does Not Protect Against Asymptomatic Diverticulosis” looked at 2,104 individuals and found that a high fiber diet does not necessarily reduce the prevalence of diverticulosis.

Diverticula are the outpoutchings in the wall of the large intestine. While the presence of diverticula – called diverticulosis – doesn’t necessarily mean pain or progression to diverticulitis, about 10-25% of those with diverticulosis will eventually develop diverticulitis, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases.

This particular study, conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, found that, despite previously accepted theories:

• Those with the lowest intakes of fiber were 30% less likely to develop diverticula than were the high fiber eaters
• High rates of constipation were not associated with greater diverticula risk
• A high fat diet and sedentary lifestyle do not increase diverticula risk

The authors go on to conclude that having more bowel movements is actually associated with more diverticulosis.

Without offering a plausible explanation behind the findings, the researchers summarize their findings with a thought provoking recommendation: maybe it’s time the food police reconsider previous dietary hypotheses regarding asymptomatic diverticulosis.

A new study published in the online edition of Nutrition Reviews concludes that eating up to 50% of your grains from refined grain sources does not significantly increase disease risk.

The review article, entitled “Evaluation of the evidence between consumption of refined grains and health outcomes” looked at 135 articles published on the topic from 2000-2010.

The author, Peter G Williams of the University of Wollongong (Australia) found that consuming half of grains from refined grains – provided the refined grains did not have added fat, sugar or sodium – did not increase risk of developing heart disease, diabetes or promoting weight gain.

Although there was no established link between high refined grain consumption and disease development, the author still warns that it’s not a reason to eat less whole grains, saying, “Nonetheless, eating more whole-grain foods remains an important health recommendation…most consumers will need to reduce their current consumption of refined grains to no more than one-third to one-half of all grains in order to meet the targets for whole-grain foods.”

The sticking point is the study looked at refined grains WITHOUT added fat, sugar or sodium. This excludes sugared cereals, fatty fries and salted snacks: the very refined grains that account for so many excess carb calories in the American diet, once again proving the point that when it comes to carbs, you’re safer to say, “If it’s white – walk away!”

A recent survey of over 200 dietitians conducted by Pollock Communications says that fiber will be on people’s minds in 2012:

• 72% of dietitians surveyed said consumers will want more organic, sustainable, fresh and minimally processed – read: higher fiber – foods in 2012
• 94% of the dietitians said the New Year will bring a push for increased fruits & vegetable consumption
• 69% of RDs in the sample said they will use MyPlate to counsel patients and clients in the Near Year

Making New Year’s resolutions? Here’s how you can bump up your fiber intake while simultaneously shedding some of that Holiday poundage:

• Aim for 3 pieces of fruit per day – use them as between meal snacks
• Analyze your plate – emphasize the role of fruits and vegetables, filling half your plate with colorful produce
• If it’s white: walk away – cut back on calorie laden white carbs and fill yourself up with high fiber alternatives such as legumes and whole grains

To find a dietitian in your area to help maximize your nutrition success in the New Year – check out the American Dietetic Association’s “RD Finder” tool at http://www.eatright.org/programs/rdfinder/.

Fibrelle is a fiber-enhanced sweetener that can be used in place of sugar for baking in a simple 1:1 conversion ratio. One teaspoon of Fibrelle contains 2 grams of dietary fiber and 5 calories – as compared to 0 grams of fiber and 15 calories per teaspoon of white granulated sugar.

In addition to providing sweetness in baked goods, sugar also acts as a tenderizer, a moisturizer and provides the nicely browned product we associate with visually appealing baked goods. I was interested to see how Fibrelle – a combination of Splenda, Acesulfame-K and a number of isolated fibers – would stand up to good old fashioned white sugar.

I tested Fibrelle as a 1:1 replacement for granulated white sugar in the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe – a good starting point as the recipe calls for both 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar. I replaced the white sugar with Fibrelle, retaining the brown sugar. My yield produced 36 decent-sized cookies, as opposed to Nestle’s 60 mini-cookie output projections.

With Fibrelle in place of the white sugar, the calories were reduced by 40 calories per cookie and the fiber went up from 0 to 2.3 grams of fiber per cookie. As far as taste goes, I tested the raw batter – come on…who doesn’t – and noticed a slightly metallic taste; however, that disappeared in the final product.

I was pleasantly surprised with the texture and sweetness of the finished product. Fibrelle did play some visual and textural tricks on my cookies: the coloring of the cookie was uneven, with alternating and unusual white and brown spots (baked using convection bake setting). And, despite fully cooling the cookies before storing, when stacked, the baked cookies disintegrated into a big cookie blob, losing their individual texture, but still tasting great if you don’t mind how they look.

To rectify these problems, one might consider freezing individual Fibrelle cookie dough balls – which would help the cookie retain its texture, and also help promote portion control. Additionally, making the dough into bars as opposed to cookies, freezing and then cutting would help avoid the disintegration problem.

All in all, Fibrelle was a unique product to experiment with. I can’t say I’ll start using it in place of sugar in baking, and cookies are of course not the place to be getting most of your fiber. But, when compared to Splenda No Calorie Granulated Sweetener, the added fiber component of Fibrelle – which Splenda only offers in their fiber packet form – is a nice addition.