# Why was everyone adding wheat germ in the 1970s and 1980s?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-adding-wheat-germ-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/970120>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** food-cooking\
**Created:** [August 22, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-adding-wheat-germ-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/970120 "2022-08-22T22:13:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-adding-wheat-germ-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/970120/21 "2022-08-24T17:43:06Z")

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When I was a kid, my dad used to make me cereal out of oats, wheat germ, raisins, and milk and I remembered liking them. I suspect it was a combination of being really cheap and supposedly healthy.

As an adult, after reading an article about trying to cut added sugar out of the diet, I tried it again, also adding walnuts, and found that I still like it. I now have oats, wheat germ, raisins, walnuts, and milk about 4 or 5 days/week.

I think a banana rolled in wheat germ sounds pretty good.

Kretschmer was the brand we used to get when I was a kid and when I went looking again, it was still the only brand (other than some store brand in a bag marketed for baking).

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-adding-wheat-germ-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/970120/22 "2022-08-25T02:31:09Z")

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> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> I now have oats, wheat germ, raisins, walnuts, and milk about 4 or 5 days/week.

That sounds completely delicious. I could see myself swapping out the walnuts with pecans or toasted pecans for a change.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-adding-wheat-germ-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/970120/23 "2022-08-25T09:49:45Z")

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Pretty dang healthy, too! Fairly caloric, though, but I don’t get hungry before lunch.

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