SCIENCE Comfortless

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'Swallowing it whole' means swallowing a cocktail of based on 'Abusing your loaf' ', the section on bread in the book 'Swallow it Whole' , by Hannah Wright (New Statesman's survival guide to the food industry, price £1.50).

The section looks first at what is taken out and put in to make your standard loaf which (according to the submission of the large bakers in the Monopolies Commission Report on Bread and Flour in 1977) 'has no rival in the world for cheapness, nutritional value, and keeping quality"

To make the refined white flour used in British bread, at least 75% of each of the 19 or more nutrients in wholemeal flour are removed.

Then four nutrients are added - vitamins B1 and B2 (removed during refinement) and iron and caicium. Of these, the iron compound used is probably not capable of being absorbed by the body, while the calcium is not nowadays necessary. So there are 'two and a half useful nutrients"

On the other hand, there are 26 permitted chemical additives, of which some 15 or 16 are likely to turn up in a sliced white wrapped loaf, including "bleach, a mixture of several 'flour improvers' , yeast stimulators, emulsitiers, various preservatives, and antichemicals The case of BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) shows how the needs of industry tend to be paramount.

BHT, which prevents the fat used in baking going rancid and helps bread keep longer, is an essential part of the highly profitable 'Chorleywood Bread Process' , introduced in 1963.

In 1960, BHT was found to cause liver enlargement in animals. In 1963, the Food Standards Committee recommended its i withdrawal unless "overriding technical need could be proved"

Though technical was never proved, in 1971 another committee re-established its use, because liver enlargement was not in itself thought to show a hazard to humans. The FMBRA were 'not asked' to work on BHT.

On the continent, all food additives must be named on wrappings, and British bread would be banned anyway. Bleaching agents are banned from other Common Market breads.

Interestingly, in France the word 'pain' (bread) is defined as a mixture of soft wheat flour, water, yeast, salt. and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

British bread has some striking effects on British health. Starting with teeth: research shows that while white flour alone does not produce cavities, when mixed with sugar (as in bread and jam) it causes more cavities than sugar alone.

This is. because white flour helps glue sugar to the teeth, giving it more time to attack the enamel. This combination of flour and sugar still provides around half the protein and energy of the very poor.

Wholewheat flour actually contains a substance which helps prevent cavities.

The vitamin E and four B-vitamins removed from and not replaced in refined flour all have important roles in health. Vitamin E in particular is chronically lacking in the British diet.

Constipation

Further down the body, we find that constipation is almost the norm in Britain, as a result of the low fibre content of refined flour. The bran removed during milling would otherwise provide bulk to, and keep moisture in, the other materials passing through the body in only 1½ days, instead of between three days and two weeks in Westerners.

Diseases of the intestines are rare in Third Worlders. Constipation gives rise to piles and diverticulosis infected ruptures in the walls of the bowels) as well as increasing the risk of bowel cancer, probably through allowing cancer-causing substances to remain in contact with the walls of the bowels for longer periods.

Your taste for white bread (I don't touch the stuff) is highly profitable for the bread industry, who also own the large millers. (And they have the nerve to charge more for unrefined flour!)

At every stage of refinement, there is an opportunity for further profit -that's why you don't see many adverts for wholemeal bread!

Socialist Organiser Science Group Interested in science and intereste in socialism?

Contact: SO science group, c/o Les

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