WHITE versus WHOLEMEAL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 288, 29 December 1944, Page 14

WHITE versus WHOLEMEAL

(Written for "The Listener’ by DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the

Department of Health)

coming out of a bread shop with a loaf of white bread-all I could get at that late hour. Its whiteness was all too obvious, in wartime undress, unwrapped in my basket. I ran into a wag who said: "She tells us to eat wholemeal, and she eats white bread herself." My rejoinder was that I was going to use it to poison the rats! Now, lest anyone takes my jocularity too seriously, I must hurriedly add that some rat poison was first spread on it! Because of our ingrained prejudices, it is very difficult to think straight on this question of white versus wholemeal bread. There are many who, while advocating compulsory wholemeal bread, ‘become very hot under the collar at the idea of compulsory pasteurisation of ‘milk or any other interference with free choice of food. But I must ask you to examine this question calmly and dispassionately, You ‘are likely to be able to quote "authorities’ who favour white, and equal "authorities" who favour wholemeal bread; in other words, the question is still open to debate. It is well, therefore, to gather as much enlightenment aS we can on this question. The chief nutritional points of contrast between white flour and whole‘meal are as follow: wholemeal contains ‘more of all the vitamin B factors than white flour; more total iron, but less of it available for absorption; more cal‘cium, ‘but again less of it available for absorption. From wholemeal bread you obtain slightly more water and fewer calories, The presence in wholemeal of ‘more roughage gives it @ lower figure for digestibility. It contains better teins than white flour, and quality pro more mineral salts. Wholemeal causes gastro-intestinal disturbances in a certain small section of the people, whereas white flour is more universally tolerated. Wholemeal flour does not always result in a well-baked loaf of bread. Marquis, the only wheat which is eminently suited for wholemeal, contributes only 0.3 per cent to the New Zealand wheat crop, and none but the best lines of Cross 7, our principal variety, make good loaves. Then again, wholemeal flour does not keep as well in storage, and is unsuitable for hot climates. Wholemeal flour also contains more phytic acid, a substance which forms insoluble compounds with iron and with calcium, thus accounting for the poorer availability of these minerals as described above. The addition of calcium will, however, overcome this disadvantage. In support of this statement, there is evidence of less anaemia in school children and expectant mothers since the introduction of national wheatmeal in the United Kingdom-and this lowered incidence is ascribed to the greater iron content of the national flour, together with the presence of calcium to offset the phytic acid. These points will be taken up in greater detail in subsequent articles. ATE one Saturday morning, I was