WHITE BREAD THE BEST

Hokitika Guardian, 31 May 1929, Page 2

WHITE BREAD THE BEST

WHOLEMEAL COMPARED

CEREAL EXPERT’S OPINION

CHRISTCHURCH, May 29.

White bread is better than whole wheaten meal bread for producing heat and energy in the human body, ac cording to Mr H. E. West, chemist in charge of the Wheat Research Institute’s laboratory, ,in Christchurch. Mr Wbs't states that wholemeal bread is less .digestible and contains less solid matter than white bread. Well-con-ducted experiments showed that it was cheaper and better, from a dietetic point of view, to feed to farm animals the bran and pollard absent from white bread, and to recover those by-pro-ducts in the improved form*> of meat, eggs and milk.. \ “ Bread is a starchy food,” said Mr West, when approached on the controversial subject of white versus brown bread. “ Starch is used primarily for heat and energy., Heat is measured in calories. One pound ..of white flour will give 1675 calories .or heat units, and one pound of a leg of mutton gives 900 calorinesU’. For produding. heat and energy .ope,, pound of almost double th.e value off one -pound'of meat. • l ‘ih , aci’idhlly ;eet|ib||shes the economic ddmestic use' Of; bre.jd. jis :,h source of a greater amount of hhd, energy. ~A^’ ordinary man 4°lng’ pro-4 fc ssioiiai work ’ requires j 2390 to 2700 calories a day. ' 1 ’ Men doing manual work require 3300 calories, and others doing heavy work, such as*on the roads) ;need;pp' toiSOpO. i j Growing-boys t who are ever active at games require about 5000.

“When we consider flour and bread purely as a source of heat and energy, we must consider the digestibility ol the substances. Wheat offal is about fifty per cent digestible, and, roughly, in wholemeal bread there is about 8 per cent of indigestible matter. In one pound of wholemeal flour there is about 92 per cent of digestible matter, on the basis that ordinary white flour .is 100 per cent digestible. Then', pound for pound; white flour is mote digestible than wholemeal, and must lie a more economical food from-(that point i\ LI »*» ,I! >f M 11 hhf iiuv JI » »s»> •i *» *»>* <i 5 t-U of view.

“In wholemeal bread there is, roughly, 3 per cent more moisture tli n in white bread. We find, then, that wholemeal bread is less digestib.e, and that the total amount of solid matter irr - white • bread ■ -is • - greater 4htwi< •in wholemeal.

“It:is said that brown bread has more fibre, minerals,, vitamins and proteins. The vitamin content in ivhole,wheaten bread is so small that we have to look elsewhere in bur diet for a .supply of the necessary vitamins. As for niiueral miatter,. .there is in the ordindiy:;^d^f;VSf|ffibibn|/;,pbosphoric acid the extra Amount whole %heat. nitrogen.oys- mattg£, in than in ‘experinicitts have sh'Owii that it 'is cheaper arid better, from a dietetic point, off. view, to-; feed the -wheat, .offal' to animals and to use with white bread the nitrogenous matter in the form ; of the bran in wholemeal bread.

‘‘.Exiierihiehts - carried out in many countries'have'shdivn that the wheat berry is not an ideal food in itself. It is deficient in certain protein ‘ stepping stones,’ without which' growth cannot be carried on in the human system. In experiments with rats on an enirely wheat diet, the rats have maintained themselves, but no growth lias taken place; but when proteins from an animal source were substituted foi a quarter of the wheat diet there was a marked difference in the growth of .the .rat 5,.”.,......... .. . ....... ..