ANCHOR LEAD IN:
MOVE OVER ALL YOU SOUTH BEACH AND ATKINS DIETERS...IT'S TIME TO QUIT DITCHING YOUR CARBS AND START SWITCHING 'EM! 'EAT MORE WHOLE GRAINS' IS THE LATEST MANTRA... IN TODAY'S HEADS UP, A NEW PROGRAM MAY HELP CUT THROUGH THE CONFUSION ON WHOLE GRAIN LABELS...

TRACK ONE Length: :09
Source: USDA
MORE THAN A HUNDRED NEW WHOLE GRAIN PRODUCTS HIT THE MARKET THIS YEAR. BUT NOT ALL PRODUCTS ARE CREATED EQUAL - AND IT CAN BE HARD TO TELL HOW MUCH OF THE 'GOOD STUFF' YOU'RE EATING...

SOT:
Key @ : :13 Name: Eric Hentges Title: Executive Director of USDA of Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
"There is labeling that says multigrain and other items like that that people believe them to be a whole grain but they really aren't."

TRACK TWO Length: :17
CRACKED WHEAT, MULTI-GRAIN, WHEAT FLOUR, OR UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR USUALLY REFER TO REFINED PRODUCTS...
YOU NEED TO READ THE LABELS CAREFULLY, LOOKING FOR WORD "WHOLE" IN THE FIRST OR SECOND ITEM ...BUT, YOU COULD SPEND HOURS LOOKING FOR HEATHY GRAIN SOURCES IN THE NEW AND UNUSUAL PLACES THEY'RE SHOWING UP...

SOT:
Key @ : :37 Name: Eric Hentges Title: Executive Director of USDA of Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
"We're now seeing whole grain choices in our pastas, in tortillas, in our breads, incorporated into soups."

TRACK THREE Length: :11
WHY NOT SIMPLIFY? THAT'S THE IDEA BEHIND A NEW SET OF 'STAMPS' NOW SHOWING UP ON GROCERIES. IT'S THE BRAINCHILD OF THE WHOLE GRAINS COUNCIL.
AND SPELLING IT OUT IN 'GRAIN' ENGLISH HAS MANY PEOPLE EXCITED....

SOT: MOS
No Key @ :
"I think that stamping things with whole grain is very helpful."

SOT: MOS
No Key @ :
"It might be a lot better."

TRACK FOUR Length: :15
Source: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/WholeGrainStamp.html
IT WORKS LIKE THIS: PRODUCTS WITH AT LEAST HALF A SERVING OF WHOLE GRAINS ARE STAMPED "GOOD SOURCE". "EXCELLENT SOURCE" MEANS THERE'S A FULL SERVING OR MORE OF WHOLE GRAINS INSIDE. THE "100 PERCENT EXCELLENT SOURCE" STAMP IS FOR ITEMS CONTAINING ONLY WHOLE GRAINS.

SOT:
Key @ : 1:20 Eric Hentges Title: Executive Director of USDA of Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
"We are encouraged that these initiatives are out there, trying to help with consumer education."

TRACK FIVE Length: :06
THE STAMPS ARE VOLUNTARY, BUT THEY ARE ALREADY ON HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT PRODUCTS...FROM PRETZELS TO FLOUR. I'M ______________ FOR HEADS UP.

ANCHOR TAG:
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NOW HAS TWO INTERACTIVE TOOLS ON ITS MYPYRAMID.COM WEBSITE THAT WILL HELP YOU INCORPORATE WHOLE GRAINS INTO A BALANCED DIET ON A DAILY BASIS. IT'S A PRETTY BIG JUMP FOR MANY CONSUMERS TO REACH THE NEW WHOLE GRAIN RECOMMENDATIONS... THEY SAY HALF OF ALL GRAIN SERVINGS SHOULD BE WHOLE GRAINS, AND MOST OF US GET ONLY ABOUT A TENTH OF OUR CARBS IN WHOLE GRAIN FORM.

CONTACT SOURCES:

Story Background: The latest U.S. dietary guidelines urge Americans to consume at least three servings daily of whole-grain foods. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , which oversees food labels, provides no definition of "whole grain." The agency allows whole-grain products to use such terms as "multi-grain" and similar statements as well as "whole grain," FDA CommissionerLester Crawford told the American Association of Cereal Chemists' annual meeting last week. Prompted by the new guidelines, Crawford said, the agency has made defining "whole grain" one of its priorities for the coming year.
The latest national nutritional survey shows that "42 percent of American never eat a whole grain," said Eric Hentges, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Yet, three, one-ounce servings of whole grains -- equal to about three slices of whole-grain bread -- not only can help reduce the risk of such chronic diseases as diabetes and heart disease but may help with weight maintenance, according to the dietary guidelines.

Expert background:
The man who runs the smallest program agency in USDA is determined to make the biggest improvements ever in the diets of ordinary Americans. Eric Hentges, executive director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, is a would-be cowhand whose keen interest in animal science evolved into a fascination with the physiology of human nutrition--or the study of how food affects the human body.
Hentges grew up in Gainesville, Fla., where his father was on the faculty at the University. But he was influenced most by the summers he spent on his extended family's ranch near Perry, Okla. There he had the opportunity to handle cattle and help with wheat and alfalfa harvests summer after summer.
Not surprisingly he decided to attend Oklahoma State University and earned a degree in animal science. After graduation, the American Angus Association helped Hentges go to Japan to work on a Dude Ranch, where, he said, "you didn't have to ride or rope very well to stay on the job." Back in the states he worked on a purebred Hereford ranch. Over time he became interested in the contribution livestock make to the human diet as a fuel for growth.
He went on to earn a master's degree in growth and developmental physiology at Auburn University and a Ph.D. in nutrition physiology from Iowa State. He did post-doctoral research in mid-1980 in conjunction with the University of Georgia's Food and Nutrition Department and USDA's Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center.
Since then he's held a variety of posts dedicated to human nutrition and education.
During his tenure at USDA he has overseen the development of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans and launched the new MyPyramid.gov all within the last year. With a staff of only 26 people and a budget under $3 million, Hentges has learned how to leverage the intellectual capital available within CNPP along with the nutrition folks at the Agricultural Research Service, the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Food and Nutrition Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"The challenge now is implementation," Hentges said. As of early August, MyPyramid.gov has had nearly 670 million hits. Nearly 300,000 registered users visit each day and 183 of the world's 193 nations have logged on. "We have to make sure that MyPyramid.gov fulfills the promise and connects with people in order to get the behavior changes we are looking for."

Contact:
Eric J. Hentges
Director, US Department of Agriculture
Center for Nutrition, Policy and Promotion
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1034
Alexandria, VA 22302
Press Contact:
John Webster
703-305-7600