Food value

Cereal grains supply most of their food energy as starch. They are also a significant source of protein, though the amino acid balance, with exceptions as noted below, is not optimal. Whole grains (see below) are good sources of dietary fiber, essential fatty acids, and other important nutrients.

Rice is eaten as cooked entire grains, although rice flour is also produced. Oats are rolled, ground, or cut into bits (steel-cut oats) and cooked into porridge. Most other cereals are ground into flour or meal, which is milled. The outer layers of bran and germ are removed. This lessens the nutritional value but makes the grain more resistant to degradation and makes the grain more appealing to many palates. Health-conscious people tend to prefer whole grains, which are not milled. Over consumption of milled cereals is sometimes blamed for obesity. Milled grains do keep better because the outer layers of the grains are rich in rancidity-prone fats. The waste from milling is sometimes mixed into a prepared animal feed.

Once (optionally) milled and ground, the resulting flour is made into bread, pasta, desserts, dumplings, and many other products. Besides cereals, flour is sometimes made from potatoes, chestnuts and pulses (especially chickpea, which is known as bean).

Cereals are the main source of energy providing about 350 kcal per 100 grams. Cereal proteins are typically poor in nutritive quality, being deficient in essential amino acid lysine. The proteins of maize are particularly poor, being deficient in lysine and tryptophan (a precursor of niacin). Rice proteins are richer in lysine than other common cereal proteins and for this reason, rice protein is considered to be of better quality. Rice is a good source of B group vitamins, especially thiamine. It is devoid of vitamins A, D, C and is a poor source of calcium and iron.

Certain grains, including quinoa, buckwheat, and grain amaranth (Pseudo cereal, non-grasses), are exceptionally nutrious. Quinoa was classified as a "supercrop" by the United Nations because of its high protein content (12-18%). Quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete source of protein in plants.

In English, cold breakfast cereals, as opposed to cooked porridges such as oatmeal, are simply called cereal.

Pair work. Have a talk on the problems of food value and cereal value.

Lesson 4

Read the words.

civilization

quinoa

wealth

package

original

A) Cover the right column and read the English words. Translate them into Russian and check your translation.