Past and future of cereal grains as food for health

Cereal grains are both directly as human food and through use as animal feed a fundamental part of the dietary supply everywhere in the world. Processing is a pre-requisite of using grains as food, and with increased technological know-how and welfare more and more emphasis was laid on consumer liking, leading to the use of refined flour in the majority of cereal foods. The rapidly changing food consumption patterns and sedentary lifestyle have contributed to the expansion of non-communicable diseases. Increased knowledge of the health-protective potential of the outer grain layers urges to re-think the way of using and processing grains for food.