Dietary patterns vs. dietary recommendations: identifying the gaps for complex carbohydrate.

Abstract

Dietary guidelines of the U.S. and Canada recommend that 55% of dietary calories of individuals should come from carbohydrates, especially complex carbohydrates. However, they generally fail to describe how much should come from complex carbohydrates. Undoubtedly, this is because of confusion about the composition of complex carbohydrate foods and incomplete knowledge of the health benefits of all components of grain products. With the intent of shifting dietary food selection to increase carbohydrate consumption above the current 46% of calories, food guides recommend 5 to 12 servings per day from grain products. Current estimated intake for adults is between four to five servings of grain products, of which less than one is from whole grain, in an average 2000-kcal adult diet. To follow the advice of the U.S. Food Guide Pyramid, which suggests half the bread (grains) group should be whole-grain products, adult Americans should increase their intake of whole-grain products four- to fivefold and double their intake of total grain products.