Meet the BREADWINNERS

 

The Swiss government has been aware of the dangers of eating white bread for decades and in order to get its populace to stop eating it, she has placed a tax on the purchase of white bread. The tax money is given to bakers to reduce the price of whole wheat bread to encourage people to switch.

 

The Canadian government passed a law prohibiting the “enrichment” of white bread with synthetic vitamins. Bread must contain the original vitamins found in the grain, not imitations.


Why bad?

 

Essentially, white bread is “dead” bread. Frequently, consumers are not told the truth about this and so called “enriched” flour. Why is the color of white bread so white when the flour taken from wheat is not?

 

It’s because the flour used to make white bread is chemically bleached, just like you bleach your clothes. When you are eating white bread, you are also eating residual chemical bleach.

 

Flour mills use different chemical bleaches, all of which are pretty bad. Here are a few of them: oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts. One bleaching agent, chloride oxide, combined with whatever proteins are still left in the flour, produces alloxan - a poison and has been used to produce diabetes in laboratory animals. It is capable of destroying the vital wheat germ oil and shorten the flour’s shelf life.

 

What is left?

 

In the process of making flour white, half of the good unsaturated fatty acids, that are high in food value, are lost in the milling process alone, and virtually all the vitamin B and E are lost with the removal of wheat germ and bran. As a result, the remaining flour in the white bread contains only poor quality proteins and fattening starch.

Most minerals are depleted – 50% of all calcium, 70% of phosphorus, 80% iron, 98% magnesium, 75% manganese, 50% potassium, and 65% of copper are destroyed. If that is not bad enough, vitamins like about 80% thiamin (B1), 60% of riboflavin (B2), 75% of niacin (B3), 50% of pantothenic acid (B5), and about 50% of Pyridoxine (B6) are also lost. Vitamin B is essential for prevention of pellagra, birth defects and beriberi.


Further depletion of nutrients occur when white bread is dried in kilns at high temperature to give white flour a longer shelf life.


The shortfall may be made up by fortification of white flour-based products with some of the nutrients lost in milling.

 

The unhealthy choice……

 

+  Here comes the unhealthy add-ons...

-   The flour is usually bleached using potassium bromate or chlorine dioxide gas to remove any slight yellow color and make its baking properties more predictable.

-  Gluten (can be allergic to some people and related to celiac disease) may be added to produce a more evenly risen and air filled loaf.

-  A standard while loaf of bread also has sugar added to enable the baker’s yeast to prove the dough and make it rise.

-  Salt is also added to check the progress of the yeast and prevent the loaf from rising too much, or over-proving. 

+  The remaining component, endosperm is mostly starchy carbohydrate with high GI (glycemic index) which causes sugars to be released quickly into the bloodstream. It leads to a rush in blood sugar levels which triggers a similarly rapid release of the body’s own sugar regulating hormone, insulin. This is a big problem for Type 1 diabetic patients coping with insufficient insulin and Type II diabetes too frequent imbalances in blood sugar levels causing insulin production to become overworked. Italian scientists who studied the diet records of 2300 people confirmed the findings that eating more white bread on daily basis doubles the risk of developing kidney cancer.

+ Excessive carbohydrate intake results in elevated levels of bad LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream, leading to problems such as heart disease related to the narrowing of the arteries. When levels of LDL cholesterol become too high artery walls thicken and blockages can occur, resulting in blood clotting and high blood pressure. In fact, if germ is not removed, its phytoestrogens can help to overcome this blood clotting problem and promote weight loss.

+ The people who ate a diet of predominantly white bread saw the biggest increases in their waist measurement. This happens because of a slowdown in metabolism caused by reduced efficiency in digestion and greater fat storage. Coupled with little or no dietary fibre present in the diet, the colon is unable to effectively remove all waste products from the body and can even become a fertile breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

The healthy choice…..

You do not have to stop eating your bread.  Just go for the healthy choice – known as brown bread, wholemeal or wholegrain bread. This is produced from wholemeal flour with the husk of the wheat or bran intact and all the nutrients and dietary fibre preserved. As such no bleaching is required but gluten is still added (preferably none) albeit lower than in white bread.

The low GI carbohydrates contained in wholemeal bread produce the slow release of sugars into the bloodstream. Hence, the metabolism is stimulated rather than inhibited, meaning that the digestive system gets a boost in efficiency and less fat gets stored. Also, it contains high levels of dietary fibre, essential for the functioning of the colon and the complete digestion of food and waste elimination. Another health benefit is – lowering bad LDL cholesterol and raising the good HDL cholesterol. This keeps the arteries in check and a better normalised blood pressure. Hence, the more wholegrains you eat, the less likely you are to develop arterial inflammation.


It is obvious from what we have learned that white bread should be avoided and always go for 100% whole-grain bread as it is higher in fibre which gives a feeling of fullness so you can eat less and worry less. Thus always select whole wheat, rye and grain breads made with whole wheat flour and make it a point to read the labels to avoid those containing artificial flavors, colors, bleached flour, preservatives, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.