How to choose whole wheat products

Buying whole wheat bread is trickier than it may seem. There are dozens of "wheat breads" on the shelves, but guess what? Most of them are white bread. You see, all flour comes from wheat, so any old bread can be called wheat bread, even if it's made with refined white flour. Here are some tips on making sure you're bringing home the right whole wheat products.

Some "wheat" breads may contain a bit of whole wheat flour, but usually not much. The bottom line: it's not enough to look for the word wheat on labels.

• Look for the word whole, preferably in the very first ingredient, to make sure the bread you buy is truly made from whole grain. That goes for any bread labelled "multigrain" as well — if the word whole isn't at the top of the list, pass it up.

• You may have seen new breads on the market called whole-grain white breads. Even though they're whole wheat, they look like white bread because they're made from a special variety of wheat (albino wheat) that's lighter in colour, plus a host of "dough conditioners" that keep the bread soft like white bread. These breads are more processed than regular whole wheat breads because the whole grains are pulverized into tiny bits by special machinery to make the bread smooth. We don't know what effect this has on the bread's glycemic load, but it certainly doesn't help it.

• Whole grains have surprising power to prevent certain cancers, including breast cancer and other hormone-related cancers, such as uterine and ovarian cancers, and gastrointestinal cancers, such as stomach and colorectal cancers.

• According to various studies, you can cut your overall risk of cancer by as much as 40 percent by eating plenty of whole grains.

• How can whole-grain bread help prevent cancer? That depends on the cancer, but the ingredients at work probably include fibre, flavonoids (special types of antioxidants) and lignans, estrogen-like compounds found in the bran and germ layers of the grain. Probably thanks to their fibre, whole grains also help prevent constipation as well as an intestinal disorder called diverticulitis.

• Since whole wheat flour contains more fat (it's the beneficial type) than white flour does, it's more perishable. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

• You can usually replace up to half the white flour called for in recipes with whole wheat flour. But when making delicate baked goods like cookies or baking powder biscuits, opt for whole wheat pastry flour. It contains less gluten-forming protein than regular whole wheat flour and helps ensure a tender result.