What Is White Bread?
Bread is of different types. The most commonly eaten of all varieties is white bread. It is a kind of bread made of refined wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast. During the manufacturing or milling process, the bran and the germ layers are removed, making the flour fine in texture, light in color, and having a longer shelf life. The wheat flour is bleached for prolonged shelf life and white color. The grinding process also removes fiber, proteins (25%), vitamins, and minerals from the flour, and only starch is left. Due to this, fortified bread has been introduced containing nutrients like vitamin B, folic acid, etc., to prevent nutritional deficiencies.
Some studies have concluded that the effects of white bread on an individual’s health vary from one person to another. The results depend on how a person’s body processes white flour. It is different for different people. Consuming white bread may be favorable for one person but may be harmful to another.
What Are the Health Benefits of White Bread?
According to some studies, it is claimed that white bread includes certain nutrients like the following:
-
Calcium: White bread comprises some amounts of calcium. Four medium slices of white bread contribute 30% of the required daily calcium intake.
-
Fat: A low fat is incorporated into bread, and a medium slice of white bread has approximately 0.6 g of fat. However, what is added to it as a topping or spread also plays an important role.
-
Energy: There are low calories in bread, approximately 77 calories in an average medium slice of white bread.
A low quantity of protein, iron, fiber, vitamins, and minerals are included in white bread.
What Is Fortified White Bread?
As per the FDA (food and drug administration) regulations, white bread is incorporated with many essential nutrients by the manufacturer to make it a nutritious food to consume. The added nutrients include iron, folic acid, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin, and calcium. This type of bread is known as fortified white bread, which has added essential nutrients and health benefits.
Why Is White Bread Bad for Health?
There have been a plethora of reasons why white bread is not suitable for health. Some of them are as follows:
-
White bread is prepared from refined white flour, which gets digested quickly when eaten. Therefore, white bread does not give the feeling of fullness for a longer time. A study in the journal called ‘Appetite’ claims that people who ate white bread felt hungry soon and had an intake of almost 500 calories or more in their next regular feed. This finding was in comparison to those individuals who consumed whole grain bread.
-
Wheat flour that is used to prepare white bread is bleached to give it a white color, and it also contains chemicals to prolong its shelf life.
-
The bran, the germ, and almost thirty other nutrients get removed from the wheat flour during manufacturing, making the white bread nutrient deficient.
-
After the grinding process, only starch is left in the flour, which is digested swiftly. This starch causes glucose production speedily and a quick rise in blood sugar levels. When this condition occurs consistently, it increases the risk for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. White bread also has a glycemic index (GI) of 75, according to the journal ‘diabetes care.’
Starch consumption also leads to other health issues like belly fat, weight gain, cellulite, etc., when the excess gets accumulated in the body.
-
White bread is fiber-free. The fiber is eliminated during the milling process, making it unsuitable for digestive and gut health. It is so fiber lacking that it requires sixteen slices of white bread to obtain the amount of fiber present in just two pieces of whole-grain bread.
-
White bread is a high carbohydrate food that, in the long term, may lead to cognitive decline and other related issues. A study in the ‘journal of alzheimer’s disease’ states that older adults who consume sugar-rich foods regularly are at a higher risk of intellectual impairment and associated conditions.
-
White bread usually contains ingredients like eggs, butter, margarine, and dairy products, not making it an edible option for vegetarians and vegans.
What Are the Side Effects of Regularly Consuming White Bread?
Continuous intake of white bread develops a myriad of health issues in the body which manifest themselves as the following:
-
Constipation: Wheat bran in the wheat flour contains insoluble fiber, the fiber that does not break down; instead, it adds bulk to feces and helps in its easy movement through the large intestine. The fiber is eliminated from the white flour, thus making white bread fiber- lacking and causing constipation.
-
High Blood Glucose Levels: Due to a sudden conversion of white bread into glucose, leading to a quick spike in blood glucose levels, there may be a constant state of hyperglycemia. This condition may remain unnoticed and undiagnosed for a long time, further causing issues like nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy.
-
Obesity: The high glycemic index of white bread creates a frequent feeling of hunger, leading to the consumption of more calories than that required by the body. This increased intake causes an increase in weight gain or obesity.
-
Acne Vulgaris: A sudden spike in blood sugar levels causes an increase in sebum production and inflammation in the body. These conditions trigger the appearance of acne vulgaris at vulnerable sites in the body.
The American academy of dermatology association suggested that a low glycemic index diet lowers the chances of developing acne vulgaris as it prevents a rise in blood glucose levels.
-
High Risk of Heart Diseases: White bread is a highly consumed food item prepared from refined grains, especially those consuming more than seven grains daily. As observed in a study in the British medical journal, a high intake of refined grains is related to an increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases like stroke, myocardial infarction, etc.
Conclusion:
White bread poses many severe health risks if eaten regularly, in large quantities for a long time. It is also a part of many delicacies that remain incomplete without it, so it needs to be replaced with other available healthy options in the diet like fortified white bread, whole-grain bread, whole-wheat bread, etc. or can be consumed occasionally.
