The wholegrain revolution – a new approach to gut health
Each year, the World Gastroenterology Organisation marks World Digestive Health Day to raise awareness about the benefits of good digestive health. This year’s campaign, Your Digestive Health: Nourish to Flourish, is celebrated on Thursday, 29 May 2025.
allmanhall’s hugely experienced Registered Dietitian, Tess Warnes, explores the campaign and highlights what this means for catering teams…
Why is digestive health so important?
The digestive system absorbs essential nutrients that fuel the body’s functions and supports long-term health. This year’s theme emphasises the importance of nourishment in every sense – through balanced diets, hydration, and other healthy habits. One of the easiest ways to improve your gut health is to eat more wholegrains – with their fibre content, wholegrains add bulk to stools and feed your beneficial gut bacteria.
Including wholegrains in your diet not only improves gut health but can also help to prevent type 2 diabetes, heart disease and weight gain. Wholegrains are a good source of B-vitamins and folic acid, as well as both types of fibre (soluble and insoluble).
What are wholegrains?
A huge variety of cereal crops are grown for food throughout the world. These include wheat, rye, barley, oats and rice. Grains are the seeds of these cereal plants. The entire grain or ‘wholegrain’ contains three elements:
- a fibre-rich outer layer – the bran
- a nutrient-packed inner part – the germ
- a central starchy part – the endosperm
Most of the goodness in grains lies in the outer bran layer and germ of the seed so wholegrains can contain up to 75% more nutrients than refined cereals. As well as fibre, wholegrains provide B vitamins and folic acid, essential fatty acids, protein, antioxidants including vitamin E, selenium, and micronutrients such as copper and magnesium.
Research suggests that the risk of developing cancer of parts of the digestive system such as bowel cancer may be reduced with higher intakes of wholegrains. Some of the fibre in wholegrains moves food along more quickly and easily, reducing the time that damaging substances are in contact with the gut wall.
Some of the fibre provides a food source for beneficial gut bacteria. This helps them to increase and produce substances which are thought to protect the gut wall, such as short-chain fatty acids.
Most cereal foods eaten in the UK are refined and our intake of wholegrains is very low. Surveys show that 95% of adults don’t eat enough wholegrains and nearly one in three of us get none at all.
The wholegrain revolution in Denmark
Perhaps we should all follow the examples of the Danes. A wholegrain revolution has started in Denmark, spearheaded by the Danish Whole Grain Partnership, a group on a mission to make the population healthier by eating more wholegrains. When the partnership began in 2008, the average Dane ate 36g of wholegrains a day. By 2019, they were eating 82g, the highest intake in Europe. In contrast, the average Briton eats 20g a day, and one in five don’t eat any wholegrains.
How did the Danes do it? By promoting and eating a lot of dark rye bread – perhaps the ultimate wholegrain bread! To get their daily wholegrain quota they only needed four small slices of dark rye bread whereas they would have needed to eat 50 white rolls to reach the target.
How to increase your diners’ intake of wholegrains
Wheat, oats, barley, rye and rice are the most commonly available cereals which can be eaten in the wholegrain form. Tess explains that “To find them, look for the word whole before the name of the cereal, for example, whole wheat pasta, whole oats and make sure they are high up in the ingredients list”.
However, it is important to remember that multigrain is not the same as wholegrain – it means that the product contains more than one different type of grain.
How can you add wholegrains to your diners’ meals to improve gut health? Tess offers some suggestions:
Breakfast:
- Porridge with fresh berries
- Wholemeal toast with baked beans
- High-fibre cereals such as bran flakes or wheat biscuits
Lunch:
- Rye toast or a wholemeal bread roll with fillings such as hummus
- Soups with barley/beans added
- Buddha bowl with quinoa
Dinner:
- For meat dishes, use 50% meat/ 50% lentils such as in our Hero Recipe Lasagne
- Add beans into dishes such as curries, pasta sauces e.g. Butterbean and spinach masala with brown rice
- Make desserts with 50% white flour/ 50% wholemeal or use oats for example in a fruit crumble with 50% flour/50% oat topping
Tess concludes that “A diet should be balanced to include, not only wholegrains, but also plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish including both white and oily fish such as salmon, kippers and mackerel, nuts and seeds, lean meat and chicken, low-fat dairy products and unsaturated fats such as olive and vegetable oils. It also means a reduced intake of saturated fat such as butter, lard and ghee and other animal products such as cream and red meat.”