What the Heck is Grain Berry?

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So maybe you’ve been hearing about this new “Grain Berry” food additive and wondering, “What the heck is a grain berry?”

The relatively new term “Grain Berry” refers to a new brand of cereals, mixes and crackers being put out by a company called Silver Palate Kitchens, Inc. On 10/16/2008 Silver Palate Kitchens, Inc. filed to trademark the term “GRAIN BERRY” as a food staple that is generally in the same category as coffee, sugar, flour, breads, salt and other spices. The trademark was registered on 9/22/2009 and It is essentially a type of natural bran that is said to contain more dietary fiber and antioxidants than most other berries or grains.

The health claims around grain berry suggest that it’s “healthier” than all those other antioxidant diet fads such as acai berry anything and pomegranate juice. To be fair, Silver Palate Kitchens, Inc. actually hasn’t made any such health claims, but the general buzz around “grain berry” has repeatedly pointed out the antioxidant levels. The advertising for Grain Berry foods read “Now-Grain with the Antioxidant Power of Berries!” which is meant to lead you into thinking that this is some sort of miracle food which combines the “good” parts of grains and berries into a magical super food.

Turns out, “Grain Berry” is just a fancy name for sorghum bran, a type of grain that has been grown for hundreds of years, but appears as though it could serve as an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. The interesting thing about grain berry/sorghum bran is that it has much higher levels of the antioxidant polyphenol procyanidins in it. What’s unclear is whether or not these high amounts can actually be absorbed and used in the human body or not. A recent study put out by the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center found that, in their words, “Sorghum Bran in the Diet Dose Dependently Increased the Excretion of Catechins and Microbial-Derived Phenolic Acids in Female Rats.” Yummy!

The National Institute on Aging in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rates the antioxidant amounts in foods and confirms that sorghum bran is indeed high in antioxidants. Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of sorghum bran is about 100,800 micromoles of Trolox Equivalents per 100 grams while the equivalent ORAC rating for Acai berry is 102,700 micromoles of Trolox Equivalents per 100 grams. Foods with a higher ORAC rating include ground turmeric, dried oregano, ground cinnamon and ground cloves.

Pretty amazing stuff, huh?

Yeah, I don’t understand a lick of it, either. Sounds pretty scientific, huh?

So, Grain Berry may or may not be a super healthy type of bran, but how do their products taste?

When I can find some, I’ll let you know!

This entry was posted on August 13, 2010 at 6:24 am and is filed under Humor, Words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.