Definitions for whole grain (WG) have been published by governments, the food industry, and grain organizations and generally fall into 2 categories: WG and WG food. WG definitions focus on the principal components of the WGs and their proportions, whereas WG-food definitions describe the quantity of WGs present in food. In the United States, widespread agreement exists on the main parts of a definition for a WG, with a definition for a WG food still in its early stages; a standard definition that has been universally accepted does not exist. Furthermore, nutrition policy advises consumers to eat WGs for at least one-half of their total grain intake (2010 and 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans), but confusion exists over which foods are considered WGs and how much is needed to achieve health benefits. In December 2014, a workshop sponsored by the subcommittee on collaborative process of the US Government's Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research convened in Washington, DC, and recognized WG definitions as a key nutrition and public health-related issue that could benefit from further collaboration. As a follow-up to that meeting, an interdisciplinary roundtable meeting was organized at the Whole Grains Summit on 25 June 2015 in Portland, Oregon, to help resolve the issue. This article summarizes the main opportunities and challenges that were identified during the meeting for defining WGs and WG foods internationally. Definitions of WGs and WG foods that are uniformly adopted by research, food industry, consumer, and public health communities are needed to enable comparison of research results across populations.Am J Clin Nutr 2016;104:1508-14.

There is wide global consensus that whole grains are an important component of a healthy diet, yet in many countries around the globe populations continue to fall short of recommended intakes for whole grains. This article aims to evaluate whole grain promotional strategies of various stakeholders across 4 countries with diverse culinary and cultural norms: the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, and Denmark. To do this, information was collected on regulations, NGO (nongovernmental organization) activities, and promotional campaigns across each of the target countries. The effort led to the identification of best practices for promoting whole grain consumption in both the public and private spheres.

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Learning Outcome: Describe the relationship between nutrition professionals' knowledge, consumption and recommendations of whole grains. Research outcome:To determine the relationship between nutrition professionals' knowledge, consumption, and recommendations of whole grains. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted with nutrition professionals (n¼480).Participants were recruited via email and social media from October 2020-February 2021. The participants completed a validated 21-question survey about whole grain knowledge, consumption, and recommendations. Analysis:The analyses included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation tests.Results: Survey respondents included 72.5% Registered Dietitians Nutritionists (RD/RDN) and 27.5% RD in training (e.g. dietetic intern, student). Nutrition professionals felt whole grains were important in their own diet (93%) and their patient/clients' diet (75%). A slight majority of nutrition professionals (58%) strongly or somewhat agreed that "personal grain preference influences the grains that you recommend to patients/clients", despite 67% agreeing to the statement, "client income/background influences the types of grains you recommend to patients/clients." Nutrition professionals correctly classified 14.9AE3.2 of the 23 food classification questions and 9.6AE1.8 for the 11 whole grain knowledge statements. Nutrition professionals with direct patient care (n¼373) have personally consumed 15.9AE3.74 different grains and recommended 9AE4.15, the correlation being r¼0.29, indicating a significant positive correlation.

In an age of increased cultural awareness, Dr. Kate Garner Burt's timely article about 'The whiteness of the Mediterranean Diet' builds a strong case for diversifying nutrition research. However, to truly improve cultural humility in the nutrition field and beget anti-racist dietary research, future explorations must move beyond mischaracterizations of existing dietary resources and give voice to other cultural models of healthy eating. This opinion piece will dig deeper into the assumptions presented by Dr. Burt and the existing Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) solutions that have been overlooked.