Economy & Industry: Why White Flour?

With recent groundbreaking studies pointing to eating habits as the primary link to many types of health problems, people are becoming more conscious of what they put into their bodies. Because of concerns like trans-fats and empty calories, label reading becomes an important step while shopping for groceries. There are all sorts of health hazards in our favorite food products that we need to be aware of: high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, bleach...  bleach? Yes, bleach, as in whiter clothes, whiter bathroom, whiter teeth and for the last century, whiter food. 

   

The Power of Bleaching our Food

We use bleaching compounds domestically not only as stain-lifters but also as sanitizers. The bleach kills off microorganisms, oxidizing them by breaking down their cell walls and destroying the inner enzymes, structures and processes. Bleaching techniques in our households are usually performed with either peroxides or chlorine. However, in the food industry, they have been used since the early 1900s in the processing of wheat flour. This practice is meant to increase the shelf life of the flour, to make the flour appear whiter and more aesthetically pleasing and to increase the reaction of gluten within the grain in order to produce more volume when baking. During this part of flour processing, the bleaching agent oxidizes the grain (the same way it would oxidize bacteria and other germs), thus its nutritive value is eliminated. Also, when white flour is made, the wholesome bran and the germ are separated out, leaving only the endosperm, which is primarily starch. Millers will enrich the flour with iron and B vitamins in an attempt to make up for the lost nutrients. Unfortunately, the human body is unable to absorb these added nutrients the same way it would the natural nutrients if the whole grain was consumed. Also, the dietary fiber left in the endosperm of the wheat grain is broken down during oxidization, the bulk created by the excess gluten in the flour becomes harder to digest.

The food industry uses several different chemical compounds for bleaching flour. Chlorine dioxide is a common agent used for the process. It is also used in refining sugar, disinfecting drinking water and sanitizing produce. However, during its application of bleaching flour, the chlorine dioxide is known to react with natural properties within the grain to create a type 2 diabetes-causing chemical known as alloxan. Alloxan destroys beta cells in the pancreas, which damages the organ's ability to produce the metabolic hormone known as insulin. Without sufficient amounts of insulin, the body is unable to metabolize sugars and essential fats, and the body is unable to fight off the onset of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. 

According to a 2004 study commissioned by the Erie County Health Department, diabetes was the 5th leading cause of death within our county. Obesity, age and physical inactivity are all serious risk factors that contribute to the onset of diabetes. Also, if there is a family history of diabetes, then the danger of developing the disease significantly increases. While diabetes is commonly thought to be a condition that only develops later in life, it has been predicted that the recent epidemic of childhood obesity means the next generation will develop diabetes type 2 as young adults. They will have higher rates of complications and heart disease than older adults with type 2 diabetes. Children born to young women with type 2 diabetes will be at greater risk as well. The longer a person has diabetes, the more likely he or she will develop the devastating and life-threatening effects of the disease including heart disease, blindness, gangrene and kidney failure.   

If this danger isn't convincing enough to make a person think twice before eating products containing white flour or serving them to children, then consider the flour miller's use of potassium bromate as a treatment in the process.   This additive oxidizes the flour and is also meant to develop the gluten. The use of potassium bromate has recently been exposed as highly controversial due to its cancer-causing properties. The compound has been banned in Canada and the U.K.  for over a decade and California requires a label notifying the consumer if the flour is 'bromated'. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discourages flour millers from using it, potassium bromate is yet to be banned in the United States.

Flours treated with bleaching agents are usually labeled as any of the following: white, enriched, bleached, processed, or fortified.

The Replaceability of White Flour

If you want to avoid these harmful additives when consuming wheat flour, then using 100% whole grain wheat flour is your sufficiently more nutritious alternative.  Whole wheat flour is made from the whole kernel of the grain which includes the bran and wheat germ, the source of most of the grain's nutrients. When buying products that contain wheat flour, look to see whether or not it is made with 100% whole wheat flour. Breads made with 100% whole wheat flour are an excellent source of proteins, B vitamins, minerals, healthy carbohydrates and fiber and also contain less fats than enriched white bread. Wheat flour products can be purchased in most Erie County markets. 

It may be hard to break the habit of cooking with white flour as it is a staple of baking, giving pastries, cookies and cakes the extra fluff, making them so irresistible. But the fact is, replacing white flour is relatively easy and it will make these baked treats more nutritious and decrease negative health effects.