Nutrition News Roundup: Whole Wheat and Free Range

So you read all these health and nutrition news and you hear how the “wild” version is better than the “farm raised,” or that “whole grain” is better than white; but do you know what these terms even mean? If I wasn’t a nutrition student, I sure wouldn’t!

So let’s review some terms:

• Free range or free roaming poultry: the poultry has been allowed access to the outside. 
• Organic chicken: chicken that has only been fed organic grains, which means that no pesticides or chemicals were used on the farm to grow the grain in the last three years. The chicken must also never have been given antibiotics, drugs, or hormones. The chicken must also be given free range.
• Grass-Fed Beef:  beef from cattle that have eaten only grass or forage throughout their lives, but some producers actually finish the animals on grain for the last 90 to 160 days before slaughter, this reduces the amount of Omega 3 in the beef. It's important to make sure that the beef you eat is not only grass fed, but grass finished. 
• Farm vs. wild fish: farmed fish provide less usable beneficial omega 3 fats than wild fish. farm-raised fish are doused with antibiotics and exposed to more concentrated pesticides than wild fish. Farmed salmon, in addition, are given a salmon-colored dye in their feed, without which, their flesh would be an unappetizing grey color. 
• Whole grain vs. multi grain: Whole grain products contain all the parts of the grain: the germ, which is rich in essential fatty acids and B-vitamins; the endosperm, which is mostly starch; and the bran, which, of course, is high in fiber. In products made with refined grains, most of the germ and bran have been removed, leaving the starchy endosperm, which is the least nutritious part of the grain.
• "Multi-grain" bread could be made out of several types of refined grains. Most likely it's made with lots of refined white flour and small amounts of other whole grains.