A LONG time ago, a brilliant physician
recommended bread to aid the digestive tract. He was Hippocrates — the father
of medicine.
He must have recognised the nutritional
value of stone-ground flour that was made into unleavened bread. That was the
kind of bread used in biblical times.
Sadly, the bread of Hippocrates’ time
bears no resemblance to today’s commercial white bread, first developed just
100 years ago. Today’s bread is refined and stripped of all the goodness it
should have. It has become smooth and soft, unlike the coarse and tough breads
of ancient times.
To add insult to injury, modern breads are
sweetened, coloured and flavoured. In short, modern breads are empty calories.
Two new studies
Indeed, the widespread consumption of
white bread has not been good for humanity. In fact, two new studies show that
a choice of white bread could make you fat and even diabetic. The research at
the Cancer Council in Victoria, Australia, did not start out to study bread.
The original scope was to examine associations between Type II diabetes risk
and the intake of different kinds of food. The foods were evaluated using the
Glycemic Index (GI).
The Glycemic index is a way to classify
how foods affect blood sugar. Foods classified as low GI (most fruits and
vegetables — stuff made by Mother Nature) prompt a slow increase in blood sugar
levels, while high GI foods (processed baked goods and starchy foods — stuff
made by man) produce a quick spike in blood sugar levels.
Blood sugar
A STEADY intake of high GI foods leads to
high blood sugar. This causes a gradual insensitivity to insulin. That leads to
Type II diabetes — sometimes called adult onset diabetes. The Australians
studied the medical records and eating habits of more than 36,700 men and women
over four years.
The subjects’ ages ranged from 40 to 69
when the study began. None had been diagnosed with diabetes.
More than 360 cases of Type II diabetes
were identified by the end of the study period. The data confirmed that a diet
with a high GI index rating was associated with an elevated risk of diabetes.
Specifically, the researchers singled out
white bread as the one food most strongly related to the development of
diabetes.
White foods
PEOPLE who eat the most white bread — half
of whom say they have it at least 17 times a week — are more than 30 per cent
more likely to develop Type II diabetes.
Other foods that appear to increase
diabetes risk include starchy foods and foods which, like white bread,
encourage a spike in blood sugar, such as crackers, cookies, and cakes. These
foods may increase diabetes risk by causing weight gain, which increases the
risk of Type II diabetes.
The researchers wrote that diabetes risk
might be reduced by cutting white bread products from the diet, and replacing
them with breads that have lower GI ratings.
Genuine whole grain
SIMPLE, you’re probably saying, "I’ll
just switch to brown or wholemeal bread."
There is a problem here. Many of the whole
grain breads on the shelves consist of mostly white bread with a little
colouring added to give them a whole grain look.
According to a recent study in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it is well worth your time to read
nutrition panels carefully to make sure the bread you buy is genuinely whole
grain.
A research team led by the Harvard School
of Public Health used periodic questionnaires in a long-term study to follow
the dietary habits of more than 27,000 men for eight years.
The subjects measured and reported body
weight at the beginning and end of the study. Unlike the Australian study, this
research specifically examined the intake of whole grain, bran and cereal
fibre.
The Harvard team found that subjects who
consumed the most whole grains tended to have the lowest weight gain.
This association held true even when added
bran or fibre intakes fluctuated.
So while it was not a surprise to learn
that whole grains were a healthier choice than highly processed flour products,
the researchers concluded that "additional components in whole grains may
contribute to favourable metabolic alterations that may reduce long-term weight
gain".
Other benefits
IN other words, the value of whole grain
food may go well beyond the positive benefits of just good fibre intake.
Hippocrates must be smiling in his grave.
Whole grain breads also contain enough
fibre to inhibit blood sugar spikes. That is why whole grains tend to rate low
on the Glycemic Index. Whole grains don’t trigger carbohydrate cravings. Thus,
you actually eat less and feel better.
On the other hand, high GI actually make
you hungrier than foods with a low GI. You end up eating more. If the foods you
are eating more of are high GI, you get caught in a vicious cycle that can only
lead to weight gain and related complications.
The solution is to become aware of the GI
value of the foods you eat. A website operated by the University of Sydney now
makes that very easy to do. The site (glycemicindex.com) provides a database
where you can search for the Glycemic Index of different types of food. The
slight drawback for those of us is that the database is sometimes specific
about brand names, which are mostly Australian and European. Nevertheless, it
offers an excellent guide for low-GI dietary choices.
I call the low-GI foods slow carbs. They
raise blood sugar slowly. They are an ideal follow-up or addition to any low
carb weight loss diet. Sadly, nearly all the foods that we take are fast carbs
— they cause your blood sugar to spike.
Despite the low GI, whole grains can
present other problems. Some people have allergies. It can lead difficulties in
digestion. The scientific documentation in this area continues to grow.
White rice
SO you might say that white bread is
"pure, white and deadly". What about white rice? What about the white
flour in our noodles, ketupat, pau, kueh teow, loh shee
fan and roti csnai? Even healthful-looking capati often
contains refined wheat flour.
Many of us take these foods more than 17
times a week. The Australian study pointed that those taking white bread 17
times or more a week had a 30 risk of increased diabetes. Logically, these
foods can bust our waistlines and spike diabetes, too.
On The Net: Glycemic Index and Dietary
Fiber and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes" Diabetes Care, Vol 27, No 11,
11/27/04, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, ajcn.org
The
writer is a pharmacist with a doctorate in Holistic Medicine. He is a director
of the Malaysian Herbal Corporation and a CEO of a group of companies in alternative
healthcare.
Source : National Consumers Complaints Center;
New Straits Times – 23 July 2006
