Wholegrains: sorting out the wheat from the chaff

The seeds of cultivated cereal crops, or grains as they are also known, have been used as a staple of man’s diet for thousands of years. Indeed the cultivation of rye, the first cereal crop from around 10,000 BC, is credited with enabling our hunter-gatherer ancestors to form more settled, complex civilisations. Throughout most of our history we’ve eaten these grains “whole” in the form of unpolished rice or wholewheat flour, for example. It’s only in last 120 years or so that more refined milling techniques have enabled the white or refined forms of these cereal crops to become the preferred choice in much of western society. What impact does this change have for our health?