I'm generally not a fan of Marrian Burros, but she's mainly on the mark here. At least in her definition of whole grains. But she's a little off about the bread business. If you take whole grains and grind them into a powder (flour) and make it into bread, there will be a few extra minerals, but it will have much the same metabolic effect as white bread. The glycemic index isn't all that different.

Using whole grains -- whole, not smashed or pulverized -- is probably not a bad idea as a side dish, say a half-cup's worth, for those who can tolerate them. But as the 'base' of your diet? Some 50% to 60% of your calories? Wouldn't work for me. I'd be fatter, hungrier, and my teeth would be falling out. Been there, done that.

That claim about whole grains helping to prevent heart disease or diabetes is a bit of a cheat, though. Compared to eating white flour, maybe. Its probably a slow-release form of white flour, so whole probably LESS harmful. I'd like to see a comparison to eating NO grains at all, with low carbs coming only from vegetables.

Personally, I pass on whole grains, since I don't like the taste, and can't see how they'd be a natural human food. Wheat grains coming in from the fields are as hard as buckshot. Basically inedible until you do a lot of pounding or soaking or fermenting.