Wheat structure<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The wheat kernel (or wheat berry) has three components: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.\u00a0 White flour that you purchase in the store is simply the endosperm.\u00a0 Actually, it would simplify so much if they called it \u201cwheat starch\u201d instead of \u201cflour\u201d so that you would know it was a kissing cousin to corn starch.\u00a0 The bran and germ sections have been sifted out, and are sold to you again as health supplements (or additives in healthy cereal, granola bars, salad toppings, etc.) or other value added products like animal feed.\u00a0 It is quite a racket: to sell the same thing to you three separate times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bran is the outer shell or wrapper consisting of 3 fibrous layers that protect the dormant nascent plant inside. These layers are rich in fiber and in minerals. One of these layers, the Aleurone layer, contains protein as well as high levels of vitamins and Phytic acid<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The germ is the embryo (remember, the grain is a seed of a plant), therefore it is high in both protein and fat, as well as containing the highest level of B vitamins.\u00a0 This is the engine inside the seed of the wheat kernel that will propel the new plant upwards.\u00a0 When the seed receives moisture and the plant starts to germ<\/span>inate, it is the germ that forms the new plant shoot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The endosperm is all starch and protein.\u00a0 If the bran were to represent the fuselage and the germ the engine, the endosperm would be fuel for the new plant to start growing until it can metabolize sunlight on its own.\u00a0 When you buy enriched flour in the store, this what you are actually eating.\u00a0 It is the starch in the endosperm that contains gluten, giving baked products the composition to hold together.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A quick history of flour<\/span> <\/p>\n The history of how white, deconstructed flour became \u201call the rage\u201d is really quite fascinating.\u00a0 Basically, sifted flour was the European Royalty treat (think \u201ccorsets and fainting women\u201d) and the robust peasants milled their own, hearty flours. Sifting (or boulting<\/em>) has been a method employed since Roman times (they had seven<\/em> grades of sifted flour).\u00a0 Sifting into \u201cwhite\u201d flour is nothing new, but it was never industrialized because the labor involved to go from raw wheat flour to refined sifted flour was so intensive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Enter the Industrial age\u2014then an American figured out how to sift it commercially, and it became the thing in 1928.\u00a0 At about the same time, scientists discovered the causes of Pellagra, Scurvy and Rickets were deficiencies in niacin, vitamin C and D along with phosphorus respectively.\u00a0 The population at large was simply malnourished, and viola\u2014\u201cenrichment\u201d became the Band-Aid\u00ae commonly practiced by 1938, and eventually the law in 1941.\u00a0 Flour enrichment was intended to bring ordinary flour back closer to whole wheat bread.\u00a0 This process is also credited with lowering the Pellagra rate from 10.5% in 1933 to only .5% by the year 1949.\u00a0 Even in recent history (the 2000\u2019s), enrichment of folic acid became law and the number of babies born with neural tube defects decreased by 26%.\u00a0 Short version of the story, when you need to get some trace element out to the people, write a law and put it in the flour.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Stripping and Enrichment Processes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n So is whole wheat whole grain?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It is very important understand that the greatest nutritional content of wheat is in the bran and germ, and that the endosperm\u2014the stuff modern white bread is made of\u2014does not contain the vitamins and minerals necessary for our daily diets.\u00a0 Modern day flour mills strip far more vitamins and minerals from the flour then they add back into it, and the enrichment is not sufficient to meet your body\u2019s full dietary needs.\u00a0 Please do not misunderstand\u2014adding some nutrition into dead flour has saved lives.\u00a0 But how many more could it save if the flour was served whole?<\/span><\/p>\n What is whole wheat?\u00a0 To answer that, please contrast the following two nutritional charts: the one on the left is for 1 serving of plain wheat berries (or kernels) and the one on the right is for a serving (1 slice) of store-bought white bread.\u00a0 When you compare them, understand that the 1 cup of wheat is simply 1 cup of the berries; your homemade bread, with honey, salt, liquid (potato water is full of nutritional benefits), and oil will have even higher levels.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pure Wheat Berries:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 serving of White Bread:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is interesting to note that in the early 2000\u2019s the law required the enrichment of flour with folate (folic acid).\u00a0 Although the quantities are different, look at the nutritional values again.\u00a0 Raw wheat berries and enriched bread are virtually the same amount of folic acid.\u00a0 There is no comparison between the fiber, iron, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, vitamin B6, phosphorus, and zinc! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is something unique about the iron level differences between the raw and the processed.\u00a0 \u00a0Anemia is the most widespread vitamin deficiency in the world, irrespective of the financial health of the countries. \u00a0The white bread has been enriched with iron and cannot compare to the natural iron levels found within the wheat.\u00a0 Since there is more than one type of iron, and because the type naturally found within wheat oxidizes quickly, the enrichment process will insert a form less easily digestible than the one that comes integral to your wheat kernel.\u00a0 Actually, the iron in enriched flour \u201cusually begins not only in iron ore mines in Minnesota, which is no surprise, but also in oil wells, which is\u201d (Ettlinger, 2007).\u00a0 Ettlinger goes on to point out in hilarious detail that the ferrous sulphate (iron substitute) in enriched flour actually is derived from crude oil (sulphur) and the rust residue in acid pickling tanks from steel mills\u00a0 production lines (ferrous).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If flour mills take far more out than they put back in through enrichment\u2014so why take it out at all?\u00a0 The reason is shelf stability.\u00a0 True whole<\/span> wheat flour (flour made from all three parts of the wheat kernel)\u00a0will quickly oxidize and go rancid.\u00a0 Actually, the nutritive value of the fresh ground whole wheat flour plummets in mere hours after it is ground (although the process can be stalled significantly if the whole wheat flour is immediately put into the freezer).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When flour mills strip the whole wheat grain of its bran and germ, they are taking more than the vitamins that you see on the label; they are stripping phytonutrients<\/em>. Also called \u201cphytochemicals,\u201d these are plant nutrients that are not considered essential.\u00a0 That just means that they enhance your life but might not be essential to it.\u00a0 For instance, studies suggest that one such phytonutrient, Lignans, can guard against breast and prostate cancers (Mathis, 2005).\u00a0 These may not make a label, but they are crucial for quality of life.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLet your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food\u201d -Hippocrates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To get quantity, there must be a bulk filler (typically starch) that is used to add nutrients back into the flour for enrichment.\u00a0 Remember that starch consists of high levels of glucose, and this turns quickly into a \u201csugar\u201d in your body.\u00a0 So the enrichment process is not without the unfortunate side effect of making bread products \u201cstarchy\u201d and a poor choice for diabetics.\u00a0 True living bread is not this way.\u00a0 The natural starches contained within the wheat are counterbalanced by the naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein.\u00a0<\/span> Vitamin E\u2014The original miracle drug\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Vitamin E is a fat soluble antioxidant. That means that they protect cells from harm done by damaging free radicals, which are molecules that contain an unshared electron (Office of Dietary Supplements, 2011).\u00a0 The Ohio State University measured the amount of vitamin E in various foods, to include oils.\u00a0 The highest item on the list was 1 tablespoon of wheat germ oil, just the oil!\u00a0 That one tablespoon provides 20.3 milligrams of vitamin E\u2014that\u2019s 135.3% of your RDA! There is no greater known source of Vitamin E in the world than in whole wheat (Mosure, 2004).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phosphorus<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Phosphorus along with Vitamin D are needed in healthy diets to fight Rickets (a disease where the bones degenerate and soften).\u00a0 Phosphorus is represented in adequate quantities in enough unprocessed foods so that deficiencies are only a concern in people who routinely consume antacids or who have a disease in the kidneys.\u00a0 Whole wheat is perhaps the second best common source for phosphorus you can find\u2014the highest value going to the yeast used in bread baking.\u00a0\u00a0 With the advent of enriched flour, the tracer bullet manufacturing sector has had to share its primary ingredient (Phosphorus) with bakers.\u00a0 Hmmmm, I think I will just stick to whole wheat home ground<\/em> flour.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s consider eating God\u2019s bounty as He designed.\u00a0 We could discuss the various vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients of whole wheat for many pages more; this is not an exhaustive list of the health benefits to this fundamental grain.\u00a0 Rather, it is a brief highlight of the value of this often underated food staple.\u00a0 Please consider replacing the deconstructed flour in your diet with true whole grain.\u00a0 Flour milling<\/a> is as simple in modern times as flipping the switch on any kitchen appliance.\u00a0 The lingering scent of freshly baked bread, the indulgence of a warm slice from the oven, the improvement in skin, digestion, and overall health\u2014this is a wonderful gift to yourself and to your family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chaya<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo Credits:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Wheat kernel cutaway from the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee: http:\/\/wbc.agr.mt.gov\/wbc\/Consumer\/Diagram_kernel\/ \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Boulting Flour in the Bakehouse<\/span> by Kentwell Hall Great Re-Creation, June 2010 (Depicting 1538) http:\/\/www.flickriver.com\/photos\/nigesphotobox\/4741585459\/<\/span><\/p>\n Bread by Viererie http:\/\/www.rgbstock.com\/photo\/nfAVg1Y\/Bread<\/span>Bread<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Works Cited:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ettlinger, S. (2007). Twinkie, deconstructed, my journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (yes, mined), and manipulated into what America eats<\/em>. (First printing, March 2007 ed., Vol. 1, p. 32). London: Hudson st Pr.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Mathis MD, C. (2005, April 01). Web md<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/diet\/phytonutrients-faq<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Mosure, J. (2004, November). The Ohio State University Extension Office Online.<\/em> Retrieved from http:\/\/ohioline.osu.edu\/hyg-fact\/5000\/pdf\/5554.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Office of dietary supplements<\/em>. (2011, October 11). Retrieved from http:\/\/ods.od.nih.gov\/factsheets\/VitaminE-HealthProfessional\/<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>For further study:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.drcranton.com\/nutrition\/bread.htm (highly recommended reading<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n www.americanbakers.org, \u201cCelebrating 70 years of Enrichment\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/cuny.edu\/archive\/cc\/health-in-america\/nutrition.html<\/span><\/p>\n www.wolframalpha.com\u00a0 for the nutritional charts<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.mostproject.org\/PDF\/2.pdf\u00a0\u00a0 US Aid, \u201cManual for Wheat Flour Fortification with Iron\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/diet\/phytonutrients-faq<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lesliebeck.com\/ingredient_index.php?featured_food=120\u00a0 Leslie Beck, RD; \u201cWheat berries – March 2010’s Featured Food\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.sph.emory.edu\/wheatflour\/KEYDOCS\/MI_Fort_handbook.pdf\u00a0 Wesley and Ranum, eds. \u201cThe Fortification Handbook\u201d (2004).<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/ohioline.osu.edu\/hyg-fact\/5000\/5554.html\u00a0 Vitamin E: Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/ods.od.nih.gov\/factsheets\/vitamine\/\u00a0 Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin E<\/span><\/p>\n Proviso:<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.\u00a0 You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.\u00a0 Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Wheat](\"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/media\/blog-images\/Kernel_of_Wheat_free_use.jpg\" "\\"Wheat")
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\n6 Comments<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
Becky<\/h4>\n
posted on Saturday, June 14, 2014 10:07:40 PM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Marci<\/h4>\n
posted on Monday, October 6, 2014 9:49:08 AM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sharon<\/h4>\n
posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 1:11:34 AM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Megan Stevens<\/h4>\n
posted on Monday, October 13, 2014 10:09:19 PM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Hi Chaya, thank you so much for a wonderfully researched and insightful article!!! Two small things, you have “viola” up by\/underneath the women sifting flour which is meant to be “voila.” I have done this myself and am always glad someone lets me know; so I hope you will not mind. Secondly, I think it would be helpful if you mention sourdough or sprouting, since the nutrients are much more accessible and historically-based as far as procedures and nutrition when the grain is predigested. Thanks, kindly, Megan \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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Thank you for catching that! I’ll change it right away; I want to get attribution correctly. You would enjoy this blog about Phytic Acid<\/a>,<\/strong> in which I talk about there very thing! It would have made a good addition to this blog, agreed. It’s hard to fit so much science into a readable blog! Glad you liked the article.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhile I agree with most of what you have posted, I have to wonder if you have even read “Wheat Belly”? A huge amount of the problem with wheat – whole grain as well as supermarket white flour – is the fact that what we eat today is genetically modified to be nothing like what our ancestors ate (14 chromosomes in Einkorn vs 42 chromosomes in modern dwarf wheat) “The Bible says, \u201cGive us this day our daily bread\u201d. Eating bread is nearly a religious commandment. But the Einkorn, heirloom, Biblical wheat of our ancestors is something modern humans never eat. Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins.” (Credit: Dr Mark Hyman) Just some food for thought.JessMN, <\/strong>Thank you for the comment (I love it when people write thoughtful comments). I had set out to read Wheat Belly, but I never actually got to it. Good intentions aside, I did watch an hour-something long lecture by the author on the topic via Youtube almost two years ago. I found what he said interesting, but as someone who has come to faith through via the lonely journey of skeptism, I think that both my scientific thinking and my faith are better in practice and both are more epistemologically sound. <\/strong><\/p>\n
JessMN<\/h4>\n
posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 7:11:47 PM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Why do I even mention that? Because the author seems to have an axe to grind with faith and the Bible\/Christianity in particular–which is altogether fine by me. My problem is that if I was anti-vegetarianism, I would not go take a shot at Seventh Day Adventists straw-man to gain traction on my argument. If following the evidence where ever it leads gets him to be upset with the nativity scene, then I think that my bias detector is correct when I see that as irrelevant to the topic at hand. <\/strong><\/p>\n
Back to wheat, yes, if he is correct, we eat a lesser form of wheat. By way of comparison, Chaya and I used to own a Boxer named Dallas. She was a GREAT dog, very affectionate, loyal, athletic and quite the clown. She was a Boxer; she was not a wolf. All dogs descended from wolves, she was a wolf-minus if you will, but we got all of the canine we needed in that lovable package. The point is to show a diminished modern product does not mean that what we have is somehow needs to be discarded because it is not pure. Sure, I would love to eat 42 chromosome wheat, and hopefully the author can bring the strain back to vogue and we can compare the data. But for now, the wheat we eat is very good, high in protein in Vitamin E. <\/strong><\/p>\n
To be clear, when I say \u201cwheat\u201d (as in what we eat at our house), we start out with a wheat berry\/kernel and then grind that into flour. That wheat is superior to the bagels stacked as cover art of dead white flour that had to be enriched by law to avoid vitamin deficiencies like beriberi and rickets. In that the author and I are in agreement, that is not wheat, that is wheat starch-minus. <\/strong><\/p>\n
Thanks for the comment! <\/strong><\/p>\n
Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThank you for UR article… I buy ‘Wheat Berries” Non-GMO, grind them when I want to make my flour. AND then make whatever bread version I want>>> Store bought, I try not to read their ingredient lists CUZ I can’t pronounce 90% of their ingredients! So I don’t buy it!!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Darryl C.<\/h4>\n
posted on Thursday, October 16, 2014 4:39:50 PM America\/Denver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Whole Wheat vs. Hole Wheat \u00a0Ingredients found in fresh ground whole wheat flour and why they matter \u00a0 Wheat structure The wheat kernel (or wheat berry) has three components: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.\u00a0 White flour that you purchase in the store is simply the endosperm.\u00a0 Actually, it would simplify so much if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[54,53],"tags":[186,159],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/pagebanner.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fvks-gL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}