Brown is better than White!

The other day my brother went shopping for bread…and he asked me what’s the difference between brown bread, fiber bread, whole wheat bread…

my answer was, DUHHHHHH!!!!!

So my search began…the discoveries were quite interesting…

Basically whole wheat bread is made from whole grains. What defines a whole grain? Whole grains are grains that keep their bran and germ (see picture below).

Look out for:

• Many breads are colored brown (often with caramel) and are  made to look like wholegrain (but they are not!).
• Whole grains contain fiber and antioxidants (such as Vitamin E and selenium, iron, magnesium, zinc and B vitamins). When whole grains are refined, fiber and antioxidants are completely or partly removed. 
• However, fiber is not indicative of wholegrain. So, the amount of fiber differs from grain to grain. Some bread products may have things like bran, peas, or other foods added to increase their fiber content.

Ok, so, why do bakers refine whole grains? Why is white bread so much easily more available and cheaper?

Wholegrains are often more expensive than refined grains because their higher oil content is susceptible to rancidification. Originating from the word, rancid, rancidification is when the oils/fats in the grains interact with oxygen and make bad smells and taste (icky sticky!). When making whole grain products, antioxidants (like vitamin E and C are added) to help delay rancidification. This complicates the processing, storage, and transport of whole grain produce.

5 reasons to go whole:

1. contributes to decreasing the risk of type II diabetes 
2. decreases the risk factors of heart diseases and attacks
3. lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) and thus in turn reduces the incidence of a heart attack
4. prevents constipation
5. decreases the occurrence of certain cancers

This is my 2 grains on the topic ;)

Further reading:

http://www.healthcastle.com/brownbread-wholegrain.shtml

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/brown-bread-facts-1497.html