Whole grain and whole wheat food products have been all the rage during the past few years. Although these products offer great nutritional value in the form of fiber, are they the best choice? Some people don't think so. In fact, multi grain and fortified pastas might be a better choice. Here are the facts.

Multi grain pasta - It is the middle of the road between whole grain and white pasta. You can think of it as refined grain with some whole grain benefit. It has four grams of fiber per serving, compared to seven grams in whole grain and two grams in white. With ten grams of protein per serving, it provides the most amount of protein out of all the different types of pastas. It also provides a host of other essential vitamins and nutrients such as zinc, magnesium, and vitamin E. Because it provides so much nutritional value, some experts say it is actually a healthier choice than the much touted whole grain pastas.

Fortified pastas - This type of pasta takes multi grain to a whole new level. Multigrain flour is mixed in with ingredients such as chickpeas, lentils, egg whites, and flaxseed. They are added to increase the pasta's nutritional value. Like multi grain pastas, a serving of fortified pastas will typically have ten grams of protein and four grams of fiber, plus a wide array of other important vitamins and minerals.

The advantage of eating fortified pastas is you benefit when the fortifying ingredients are of great nutritional value themselves, such as flaxseeds. Flaxseeds provide Omega 3 fatty acids, which have been shown to promote better heart health. One other advantage to eating fortified pastas is their lower glycemic index, which means that you get a steady stream of blood sugar instead of the large spike that you get from white pasta.