Dear Nutritionist,
Recently I bought a loaf of white bread that my husband likes, and a loaf of 12 grain bread that I prefer, and was surprised to read the nutrition labels that the white bread has a greater percentage of vitamins and some minerals than the grain loaf. I always understood that whole wheat / grain bread has more fibre and would be less ‘processed,’ but considering the vitamin qualities, my question is which one would you recommend as the healthiest of the two? — Margaret from Bradford
Dear Margaret,
As I understand it, you are seeking to eat the healthiest bread you can. You have understood that to be whole wheat or multigrain due to claims that the fibre content makes such bread less processed and healthier. The vitamin content on the label does not seem to reflect that and you are understandably confused. What The Bread is going on?
The answer is a resounding neither. Neither are healthier. Or, more accurately, one may be marginally better but I can’t tell you which one based on what you’ve given me because the vitamin content isn’t the only — or the best — metric to use to compare bread.
Why is that? Well, vitamins in food are destroyed by exposure to heat, air, light, and oxygen, all of which bread flour has gone through. So was the vitamin content measured in the grain before milling, after milling before baking, or after the product was made? We don’t know, but typically it’s not measured at all. The ingredients are added into a calculator that knows the nutrient content of the raw food ingredient and then spits out a number, regardless of processing that comes before the product hits the shelf. For some great info related to nutrient degradation and cooking, go here and here and here.
In addition, milling and refining wheat flour for white bread removes almost all the nutrients. Baking would remove most of what’s left. Thus, in Canada nutrients are added back in to make this less of a Frankenfood. Any idea which Canadian it was that petitioned to get the vitamins added back into the cereal grains? It was the father of orthomolecular medicine, psychiatrist and biochemist, Dr. Abram Hoffer. The very man who helped me with my son and infected me with this orthomolecular bug!
Of course, whole grain products and multi-grain products innately have more nutrients and fibre in them than refined, white flour does because the bran and germ are removed from white flour in the refining process and the brain and germ components of the wheat berry are where the bulk of the fibre and nutrients reside.
The exception to this are the proteins gluten and gliadin, which reside abundantly in the endosperm, which is what’s used to make white flour. You might think great, white flour has something going for it. But, gluten and gliadin are the components of wheat that make it such an inflammatory food. Before you throw out the white and make your husband choke down whole wheat, you should know that whole wheat / grain flours often have extra gluten added in to make them more elastic, since the bran impairs this property (which is the very thing that creates the texture we like in bread).
For anyone who is interested in understanding the gluten/ gliadin issue, Dr. Perlmutter releases regular updates on his website related to gluten and gliadin research. But don’t read it if you really don’t want to be put off of bread as a staple.
So whole wheat and multigrain bread should, in theory, have more intact nutrients, except that nutrients are degraded with exposure to heat and oxygen, which obviously is a problem with baked products. And, commercial whole wheat / whole grain flours are nothing more than milled and bleached white flour with finely milled wheat bran and germ added back in.
Yes, the way wheat is milled affects the nutrients of the flour. Commercial milling damages the nutrients far more than home milling or traditional stone grinding of flours. And, white flour isn’t just nutrient deficient. It’s toxic because it’s heavily processed with chemicals like nitrogen oxide, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl, benzoyl peroxide, and bleaches. If this wasn’t bad enough, it’s essentially a stripped down starch molecule, which is just a trigger in the body for insulin spikes. Diabetes sandwich anyone?
To make it even more complex, cereal grains like wheat are known to have anti-nutrients (phytates and lectins) that inhibit our ability to break them down and extract nutrients from them. Lectins seem to be mostly destroyed by heating, but in order for phytates to be removed the wheat must be sprouted or fermented. It’s even better if you do both.
So, to answer your question, bread that has been made from sprouted whole grains that are then naturally fermented is the best in terms of its nutrient content and digestibility. It has a higher protein content and the naturally occurring nutrients are more easily absorbed. There is a brand called Ezekiel that has been sprouted, but there are others. It is named thus because there are directions for sprouting grains for nutritional value in the book of Ezekiel of the Old Testament.
Second to that is naturally fermented bread like traditional sourdough, made preferably from quality flour that has been milled in small batches and not chemically treated.
Sourdough is an ancient form of grain fermentation and was the traditional way bread was leavened before the advent of baker’s yeast. Wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria in the starter are used to leaven the bread through a process whereby they ferment the sugars in the dough, which then gives off gasses that make the dough rise. Anti-nutrients are minimized by this process, some nutrients are enhanced, and the result is a bread that is more nutritious and easier to digest, with a unique flavour profile. For an in depth article on the benefits of sourdough, go here. The best of both worlds is a sprouted grain bread that is fermented.
The last, and possibly most important consideration in choosing a healthy bread is the impact it will have on blood sugar, since creeping blood sugar is epidemic in our culture today and correlates to so many other serious diseases. Blood sugar is an essential consideration when anyone is dealing with diabetes — or excess weight around the middle — which is a sure sign we are on our way to diabetes. Sprouted and fermented breads are both higher in nutrients and lower glycemic so they won’t spike insulin as much.
One of the best breads I’ve found in terms of its impact on blood sugar is a bread from Costco. It’s called Stonemill Slow Crafted and it comes in different flavours like Organic Flax and Quinoa. It’s made from organic, non-GMO wheat, with added sprouted flax and then fermented. I’ve tested it with clients and found it makes improvements in blood sugar over other breads.
Some other clients of mine prefer Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffins, which I find at Superstore in the organic freezer section. They do not seem to be sprouted and have added gluten, but they are tolerated well by even gluten sensitive individuals and have a nice, nutty flavour and less of an impact on blood sugar than traditional breads. I have no conflict of interest with recommending either of these two products.
If you have health questions, send me an email and watch your local libraries for upcoming fermentation classes in the New Year at which you can learn all about fermented foods like kombucha, yogurt, and sourdough. Wishing all my readers a Happy Christmas, Hanukkah and holiday season!
Namaste!
Nonie Nutritionista
