Whole grain foods are an important part of a healthful diet. Whole grain foods are associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and improved weight management.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend healthy Americans eat at least three ounces of whole grain foods each day or "make half your grains whole." However, survey results show the average American eats slightly less than one serving of whole grain food each day. Because the U.S. population is aging and older adults are more likely to have one or more chronic health conditions, older adults represent an important audience for educational programs designed to increase whole grain food consumption.

How can UNH Cooperative Extension help consumers identify, purchase and eat more whole grain foods? To answer this question and then design effective educational programs, we need to know more about how older adults identify foods as whole grain and if and how they use product packages to do so. To develop targeted education materials, we also need to know more about what motivates older consumers to purchase whole grain foods and the barriers they encounter. Lastly, we need to know what older adults want to learn about whole grains and how they would like the program delivered.

To answer these questions, two grant-funded applied research projects are currently underway. For the first project, researchers from five universities (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota and the District of Columbia) interviewed 110 older adults to identify how they determine if sample food products were whole grain. While the results are still being analyzed, preliminary indications show the food package ingredient list is an important source of information older adults use to determine if a food is whole grain.

The second research project is looking at how older adults want to learn about whole grains and to work with them to develop the program. Known as community participatory research, we are working with both agency representatives and older adults to plan and implement a whole grain foods program. This project is funded by the UNH Outreach Scholars program and focuses on older adults in Manchester. Five "listening sessions" were held in Manchester with 44 older adults attending.

These lively group discussions provided much valuable information to Catherine Violette and Alice Mullen from UNH Cooperative Extension and Dr. Alison Paglia, associate professor of Psychology at UNH Manchester, who are leading this project. A smaller group of older adult volunteers derived from the listening sessions is currently meeting and engaged in each step of program development. Involving older adults in program development is helping us prioritize information and approaches that will best meet their educational needs.