Comparison of nutrient contents of whole grain and non-whole grain cereal products

Anyone who has followed our recent posts knows that we always refer to the DGE or the ÖGE. These are the German and Austrian Societies for Nutrition, respectively. In Switzerland, too, there is an SBU, i.e. the Swiss Society for Nutrition.

With the DACH reference values for nutrient intake, the DGE, the ÖGE and the SGE specify the amounts for daily intake of energy and nutrients as the basis for a complete diet. DACH stands for Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH).

What the SGE recommends regarding cereal products, we have discovered the following: Because under the item cereal products, potatoes and legumes, we can read – as with the DGE and ÖGE – that also the SGE recommends cereals from whole grains to prefer.

A table comparing the nutrient contents of different cereal products provides interesting information, which we will now discuss in more detail. The data are always given for 100 g of the respective product.

Whole grain bread vs. white bread: The fiber content (also dietary fiber content) of whole grain bread is 6.6 g = 100%. White bread contains only 55% of it. While the VK bread contains 98 mg = 100% magnesium, the white bread contains only 14% of it. The vitamin B6 content of white bread is also only 38% in comparison.

Whole grain pasta vs. white pasta: 11.5 g = 100% fiber is found in the whole grain in pasta, compared to 44% in “white” pasta. The magnesium and vitamin B6 content is also reduced by more than half in pasta (white) compared to whole grain.

To save space, we will not go into all the other products included in the comparison here. However, if you’re interested in what the whole rice vs. white rice or oatmeal vs. crunchy granola looks like, you can get to the chart via the source links.

We hope that the nutrient contents of whole grain and non-whole grain cereal products compared could again show how important whole grain cereal products are.

Why whole grain cereal products are recommended by ÖGE and DGE, we have also written a separate article about it >>

Sources

http://www.sge-ssn.ch/media/Didacta-Vollkorn-D3.pdf

http://www.sge-ssn.ch/die-sge/ueber-uns/

https://www.dge.de/wissenschaft/referenzwerte/

Table: SWISS NUTRITION VALUE TABLE FOR CONSUMERS, SGE, 2006/NUTRITION VALUE TABLE, SOUCI FACHMANN KRAUT, 2000/PRODUCT INFORMATION