Bulgur is a Whole Grain
In a 1954 study the world renowned nutritionist, Dr. Francis Joseph Weiss, first postulated the key role bulgur (parboiled) wheat played in sustaining the health of our forefathers: “If food technologists had set out deliberately to find a way to use wheat so as to obtain:
- maximum economy in processing
- minimum loss of nutrients
- highest palatability and digestibility for humans
- optimum keeping quality and
- the least requirements for elaborate processing (cooking) equipment, and storage facilities
it is doubtful whether they could have been able to devise a more perfect method of wheat utilization than the ancient Jew had developed (in bulgur wheat).” The nutritional significance of bulgur wheat was further recognized in 1964-1965 by becoming an integral part of the USDA’s emergency food contingency in their fallout shelter rations. Further, its complete nutritional profile becomes the catalyst for bulgur wheat exports into South & Central America, Africa, Indonesia and Southeast Asia under USDA’s relief programs and Title 1 of Public Law 480, the Food for Peace Program legislated by Hubert H. Humphrey in the 1960’s.
- American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) – Definition of Whole Grain . See the letter dated April 17, 2006 to the Food and Drug (FDA) Administration and the October 30, 2006 letter to the Food and Nutrition Service of the USDA.
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on its My Pyramid website.
- Harvard University – Harvard Medical School – List of Whole Grains
- Stanford University – Wellspring List of Whole Grain Foods.
- Whole Grains Council – Definition of Whole Grains
- Mayo Clinic – Nutrition and Healthy Eating
- Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) – The Whole Grain Guide
