Is processed wheat flour the cause of diabetes and other health issues?

 Composition of wheat grain.

The wheat grain is considered to be one of the healthiest seeds known.

Wheat flour is available in many forms with varying amounts of the white endosperm. The whole wheat grain contains an outer brown coat called the bran which is mainly the fiber part, giving brown color to the flour. While endosperm is the inner white part of the grain.

Nutritional value of wheat grain components.

 The wheat grain is rich in starch, polysaccharides (carbs), and some amount of protein. It makes up to 90 percent of the whole wheat grain composition. The rest of the 10 percent includes vitamin B complex, terpenoids, minerals, etc.

The barn is rich in minor food components like terpenoids, minerals, and vitamins, while the white endosperm part inside the grain contains mainly starch and 10 percent of protein in it. Different varieties of wheat species also differ in their overall nutritional values.   

Refined wheat or white flour composition:

The white flour is formed by grinding only the central endosperm part of the wheat grain. Hence we are already cutting down on many healthy nutrients from our grain.

Next comes the processioning of the white wheat flour.

 How does this affect the nutritional and health benefits of the grain?

Let’s find out how is the wheat generally processed.

Bleaching of white flour:

The primitive method of flour whitening was to simply let the powdered grain rest in the open air in the presence of oxygen. And it automatically gets bleached but this process was too slow, taking up to 2 months. This was obviously not good in terms of cost, space availability, and storage, and also it was exposed to impurities from the air.

So to make a lot within less period of time the chemical was introduced to bleach the flour.

The processing of wheat involves the use of powdered and gaseous chemicals involved.

The most common chemicals used are solid powdered calcium peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, and nitrogen dioxide, chlorine gases. The powdered bleaching agents are added directly to the ground wheat flour. Potassium bromate is another chemical added.

The amounts for the bleaching agents are recommended by the FDA and exceeding these safe limits is not allowed.

 But

Are these really the safe limits for the amounts of bleaching agents added into wheat flour?

 Amongst the many effects of these bleaching agents on the nutrition and safety of the flour, some are listed below.

·         Breaking of amylopectin, and amylose fragments.

·         It improves protein solubility.

Is it harmful to add bleaching agents to wheat flour?

·         One of its side effects is reported to be the production of Alloxans when the bleaching agents are added.

Alloxans are the chemical that are reported to attack the beta cells within pancreas, the beta cells which are responsible to make insulin and regulate insulin levels in our blood.

So the destruction of beta cells of pancreas causes type1 diabetes.

·         Another side effect is the loss of iron, vitamins B, and E from the flour. So already refined endosperm part of the flour is further processed to lose more nutrients.

·         The antioxidants are also destroyed by these bleaches.

Is it safe to use refined and bleached flour?

One factor to keep in mind is that all these studies on the side effects of bleaches are conducted on animals, which are fed with high doses to see the results. So, are these safe for humans?

As studies are not conducted on humans. Hence bleaches are still being used in many countries of the world.

Potassium bromate is banned in America but benzoyl peroxide is permitted to use.

 In my opinion, we must avoid chemicals as much as we can.

Once the outbreak of many diseases like tuberculosis was most likely affecting underdeveloped countries because of malnutrition.

But the case was different for Covid -19. The reason for the outbreak of Covid -19 more in developed countries compared to underdeveloped or developing countries can be the excessive use of preserved foods, additives, chemicals, etc. compromising our immune system.

The underdeveloped countries do not have sophisticated mechanisms to store, fruits, veggies, meat, etc. for longer periods of time.  They cannot manage to have expensive chemicals to be used as preservatives and bleaching agents. So the veggies, meat, and fruits are freshly supplied or they just get rot or wasted. They still stick to older methods of preservation. So maybe that’s why they still have their immunity to fight diseases. As fresh edibles are loaded with antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, etc.