THE "DEADLY WHITE LOAF"
"There is no doubt that until nutrition is improved in our country there will continue to be ill health on a wide scale and our hospitals will be full, at enormous cost to the nation."
These words were written by Dr. John Maberly, MRCS, LRCP, in his book “Health of the Nation and Deficiency Diseases”, which was published in 1938. Yes, 1938! Dr. Maberly laid responsibility for so much ill health even in those days, largely at the door of the millers, as they were the ones who first began the process that destroyed the wheat used for making bread. He wrote, “…millers have discovered a method of mutilating wheat by which they can sell one portion containing essential vitamins and some of the important minerals and proteins as patent poultry foods, and supply the residue to human beings for the purpose of making bread….Powerful financial groups have now obtained an almost complete stranglehold on the processes of milling or more correctly speaking, the mutilation of wheat.” He refers to the “deadly white bread” of today. Some seventy years later, white bread is even more denuded of nutritional value. The standard mass-produced white or even wholemeal loaf is a travesty of the real bread once regarded as "the staff of life". Not only is it empty of vital nutrients but it contains chemicals added to prolong
shelf life that can be detrimental to health.
These words were written by Dr. John Maberly, MRCS, LRCP, in his book “Health of the Nation and Deficiency Diseases”, which was published in 1938. Yes, 1938! Dr. Maberly laid responsibility for so much ill health even in those days, largely at the door of the millers, as they were the ones who first began the process that destroyed the wheat used for making bread. He wrote, “…millers have discovered a method of mutilating wheat by which they can sell one portion containing essential vitamins and some of the important minerals and proteins as patent poultry foods, and supply the residue to human beings for the purpose of making bread….Powerful financial groups have now obtained an almost complete stranglehold on the processes of milling or more correctly speaking, the mutilation of wheat.” He refers to the “deadly white bread” of today. Some seventy years later, white bread is even more denuded of nutritional value. The standard mass-produced white or even wholemeal loaf is a travesty of the real bread once regarded as "the staff of life". Not only is it empty of vital nutrients but it contains chemicals added to prolong
shelf life that can be detrimental to health.
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DEGRADATION OF FLOUR
A contributory factor to the degradation of flour began when flour ceased to be stone ground and the roller mills came into common use. WARTIME GOOD HEALTH During World War II, it is well known that the health of the nation improved, mainly as a result of a Government decree that forced millers to make bread with 85% extraction flour, thereby ensuring that more of the valuable wheat grain was included in the flour. Maurice Frohn, Consultant Surgeon Retd., referred to 30thSeptember, 1956 when Parliament approved the Flour Order from 85% National Flour to 70% extraction rate white flour, as a date of National Disaster. In a letter written to me more than 25 years ago, Mr. Frohn explained what happens to the body when white bread is eaten instead of 100% wholemeal bread. In this extract, he said that eating white bread has the following effect: -
These chemicals associated with constipation lie in contact with the lining of the bowel for longer than is natural and this is why cancer is most common in the sigmoid colon where there is maximum stasis and maximum concentration.
The millers advertise that their flour is "enriched" with thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2) and Niacin but these are synthetically made and synthetic thiamine is largely destroyed in baking, being thermo labile. Natural thiamine is conjugated and more thermo-stable as a result. Riboflavin is made in the colon anyway and synthetic niacin is totally absorbed by the bowel while natural niacin, being conjugated, is only partly absorbed. The body gets what it does not demand, and does not get what it does demand! Meanwhile, pyridoxine (B6) and pantothenic acid are seriously deficient. Furthermore, iron in the ferric ion form is added and is only absorbed in the ferrous ion form. In nature chemicals are balanced one with another and a fine example of this is the essential fatty acids (EFA) and Vitamin E in the embryo or germ. EFA are needed for cell wall structure and the Vitamin E (Tocopherals) are present to prevent their oxidation to epoxides, which are cancer-producing chemicals. The bleaching agent or “improver” is chlorine dioxide which destroys the Vitamin E, so that the antioxidant is destroyed allowing EFA. to be converted to epoxides etc. Most of the EFA is removed in refining the wheat. IMPORTANCE OF BRAN The properties of bran are both physical and chemical and it is a most complex substance.
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COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGE
White flour is made because of its commercial advantages; more profit for industrial bakers. As it contains no fatty acids or other nutrients it is not affected by bacteria or moulds. As a result it has a long shelf life and the white bread does not go mouldy. Also white flour has easier machine handling properties, so that now bread is made for machines, not for man. THE MODERN PATTERN OF DISEASE Western Society has been on a refined diet since about 1880 and the full effects are now manifest in the present pattern and succession of disease. The fat child with frequently carious teeth may develop appendicitis in adolescence. He may later develop a peptic ulcer or gall stones according to his disposition, also haemorrhoids and varicose veins. From middle age he will certainly have developed the mechanical effect of constipation, diverticular disease, and later with the added chemical effect, the risk of cancer of the large bowel. Later, due to hardening of the arteries, a stroke or heart attack may occur. All these diseases are one; they are only different manifestations of the same disorder - refined diet. Disease is not inevitable; it is produced as a result of disorder and an unbalanced life style and diet. Man should not die of disease but of senescence at a great age.” WHAT WE ARE BEING DEPRIVED OF ? Dr. Maynard Murray, author of "Sea Energy", lists the nutrients that are removed during the modern milling process in order to make white flour: 86% of the manganese content is removed. Chickens and animals experimentally deprived of manganese grow improperly and often become sterile. A large proportion of selenium is removed. Rats and chickens deprived of selenium show signs of liver deterioration. Approximately 78 % of the zinc is removed; zinc is known to speed the healing of wounds and human dwarfs are a recognized result of severe deficiency of zinc. 89% of the cobalt is removed; cobalt is known to be a key element in Vitamin B12 is important to the maturing of red blood cells which carry iron and oxygen in all warm-blooded mammals. Nearly 50% of the chromium is removed. Lack of chromium has been shown to contribute to the incidence of diabetes. 77% of the Vitamin B1 and 67% of the folic acid are lost; both, along with other trace elements are key in the manufacture of RNA and DNA, the chemicals which pass along the genetic code concerned with the building of cells and procreation. 80% of the B2 and 81% of Vitamin B3 are lost; both are important in mucous membrane health and resistance to Pellagra. 72% of B6 is lost; Vitamin B6 is associated with the metabolism of amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins making up most of the body. Most of the Vitamin A is lost in the process; Vitamin A is essential in the maintenance of good vision and healthy skin. 86% of the Vitamin E and most of the Vitamin D content are lost; Vitamin E is necessary in the proper development and maintenance of cell membranes and Vitamin D is important in utilization of calcium and Vitamin A. MAGNUS HIPPOCRATES Magnus Hippocrates (born 460 BC) said, “ And this I know, moreover, that to the human body it makes a great difference whether the bread be fine or coarse, of wheat with or without the hull bran)….Whoever pays no attention to these things, or paying attention does not comprehend them, how can he understand the diseases which befall a man? For by every one of these things, a man is affected and changed this way or that and the whole of his life is subjected to them whether in health, convalescence or disease. Nothing else then can be more important or more necessary to know than these things.” These wise words of Hippocrates, written many hundreds of years ago have largely fallen on deaf ears. We need to listen urgently before it is too late. See the recipe for making your own, home-baked, wholemeal loaf in a little over an hour from start to finish.
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