Role of staple cereals in human nutrition: Separating the wheat from the chaff in the infodemics age

Erenstein, Olaf; Poole, Nigel; Donovan, Jason

Abstract

Background: Staple cereals always have been important dietary components, yet recent debates on their role in human diets are riddled with myths and misinformation. Scope and approach: This article examines the informational controversies, particularly about wheat, and reviews the evidence. The discussion centers on three nutritional cereal debates: i) ‘empty calories’, ii) over-consumption, and iii) how ‘free-from’ fads confound dietary transitions. Key findings and conclusions: This article makes two principal points, that i) advances in nutrition are a complex, slow process, and that ii) they can be easily confounded and undone by misinformation. Hence we suggest that more consumer-oriented work is needed—including behavioral approaches and political economy—in order to improve the quality of information, communication and dietary decision making. There is a clear need to tackle nutritional misinformation given the costs of inaction and the need to formulate a coherent agri-nutrition agenda.

Citation

Erenstein, O., Poole, N., & Donovan, J. (2022). Role of staple cereals in human nutrition: Separating the wheat from the chaff in the infodemics age. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 119, 508-513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2021.11.033

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 30, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 2, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Journal: Trends in Food Science and Technology
• Print ISSN: 0924-2244
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-3053
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 119
• Pages: 508-513
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2021.11.033
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224421006567