It's using buzzwords to trick you. These words sound healthy, so it helps companies trick people who don't understand what's going on (and clearly it's working)

​

In reality, it's not inherently healthier (it can be, but simply being whole wheat/whole grain does not make it so).

Much more important to pay attention to calories, and macro nutrients, and ingredients.

I do nutritional labeling...the FDA's(U.S.) stance on this(wheat) is merely a recommendation and does not decipher how the wheat was processed, just that it was used at some point during production.

Reading the ingredients/nutritional facts is the only way to determine "health."

It comes down to lack of regulation, lazy consumerism and nothing but a buzz word/phrase, the front of the package is to lure you, the back is to inform you.

Edit:

I own a printing company who's main focus is the printing. It is not my job to consult nor verify the proposed information on the label/packaging as this is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer.

What we will not do is veer from the nutritional facts and ingredients that have been approved in regards to the information on the back of the product.

The front is another animal and considered "free" space where all kinds of phrases can be used hence the recommendation comment. Essentially the "advertising" does not necessarily reflect the quality or amount you're receiving let alone health benefit claims to a certain extent. Claims like lowers cholesterol, heart attack risk, cancer are pretty much regulated but saying "daily dose of fiber, protein, whatever" is not. It just has to contain fiber or protein to fly because it's technically true.

It always amazes me what customers will request to make things appear healthier than they are.

[removed]

What are you talking about? "Whole wheat" is not a buzzword. It's a fact about the type of flour used.

Most common type of flour used pretty much everywhere is processed wheat flour.

Wheat seed has 3 parts - bran, endosperm, and germ. When processing the flour, bran and germ are removed, leaving only the endosperm.

Whole wheat flour, on the other hand, is exactly that - flour made out of whole seed with nothing removed. That means it contains more micronutrients (fiber, vitamins, minerals) than processed white flour, which makes whole wheat flour a better choice health-wise compared to the same amount of processed flour.

That standard white wheat flour you see everywhere is processed flour.

Wheat seed has 3 parts - they're called bran, endosperm, and germ. When processing the flour, bran and germ are removed, leaving only the endosperm. Naturally, removing parts of the seed also removes the nutrients, which makes processed white flour nutritionally poorer.

Whole wheat flour, on the other hand, is exactly what it says - flour made out of whole seed with nothing removed. That means it contains more micronutrients (fiber, vitamins, minerals) than processed white flour, which makes whole wheat flour a better choice health-wise than processed flour.

You just need to be careful when reading the labels because when the front of the packaging says "whole wheat", that may mean it has like 20% whole wheat flour, and the rest is processed white flour. If it says "100% whole wheat", then there's no processed flour in it.

What is the benefit of processing the flour then? Does it not increase the cost of production? Does it have properties that make it better for baking?

While I would agree that the phrasing "using buzzwords to trick you" is a bit much, I believe the poster is essentially making the same point /u/ACMEPrinting did a little later. In the US, the FDA does not have any specific label requirements that differentiate "wheat flour" from "whole wheat flour" from "100% whole grain wheat". They make recommendations, but the manufacturer ultimately can use whatever language they want. The onus is on the consumer to check the nutrition label.

I've never baked with whole wheat flour, but supposedly whole wheat baked stuff tends to be coarser, dryer, tougher, denser, and has a stronger flavor. All in all, supposedly it's more difficult to get a good bread out of whole-wheat flour. Generally, we want our breads to be light, soft, and fluffy.

Also, whole wheat flour has a a shorter shelf life.

Your point is that the label isn't regulated in the way it should be, and that's true, but it's not true that the whole wheat label is just nothing.

Whole wheat products are qualitatively way different than other products, and OP just wants to know what that difference is.

The benefit of processing the flour is that it tastes better to most people, and they're more likely to buy it.

Come on, you have to understand that's not the whole point of the question. When you eat whole wheat bread, you taste and feel that it's not the same as white bread, and OP wants to know what the difference is; it's not health, okay, but what is it?

"Processed" is kind of missleading in this case. Whole weed flour is still processed otherwise you would just have a grain and not flour. You just skip one step in the process that is sieving out the other parts. The milling acctually gets more difficult with whole weed if I remeber correctly. So no production cost does not realy change. And yes it makes properties better to bake, though "better" depends on what you want to make. For most comercial products finer grain is usually better and it also tastes sweeter, which is what most people like.

This might help or add to the confusion but sheds some light into the FDA's thought process on the matter:

https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/draft-guidance-industry-and-fda-staff-whole-grain-label-statements

Note:

Link is the opposite of ELI5

Does it really taste better to "most" people? Could be. I've never seen a scientific poll on this (tho I'm gonna go look). But not to me and my family. I've been eating whole wheat foods my whole life (I've eaten mostly home-cooked meals) and strongly prefer the nutty flavour of whole wheat over the blandness of white flour. I usually add just a smidge % more oil/butter to my baking to counteract the slight uptick in perceived dryness, but for tortillas, roti, and naan, I can't tell any difference in dryness, just a nuttier flavour.

Anyway, I think people get used to what they get used to, like how Yanks can't tell that their supermarket white breads are usually basically confectionery.