In the papers today was an article all about bread. All right, I know that it is off the menu for us as coeliacs but at the same time, it is always good to be aware of what it may be doing for other members of our family. For instance, I found out that freezing bread is bad for you especially if you then toast it/cook it .. apparently you are left with something called 'resistant starch' which is hard to digest and leads to both bloating and gas!
Thought that many of you would find the article interesting - there are mentions of coeliac disease and information about gluten ..
Here's a small extract saying how the bread makers got over the labelling laws:
Chorleywood was a triumph of efficiency: you could get from raw flour to wrapped loaf in under three hours.
But there were also the additives. Quite a few of them, in fact. Potassium bromate (now banned in the UK as a possible cancer producer), azodicarbonamide (also banned), L-cysteine hydrochloride, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate and so on — the list was long.
To avoid too many frightening chemical names, bread labels were allowed to group the nasties under bland headings such as ‘flour treatment agent’ and ‘emulsifier’
And this says it all about the new strains of wheat:
And recent research has revealed the resulting flour has nearly doubled the bits of wheat protein known as omega-gliadins that are known to trigger certain inflammatory reactions in the gut of sensitive people - notably a condition called Wheat-Dependent Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis. This didn’t exist 20 years ago
One thing I perhaps should have added that wasn't mentioned in the article is - occasionally whilst getting the weekly shop you can see loaves of bread with that days date on drastically reduced in price. I have often picked them up (purely for the dicky-birds - we have very greedy ones by us many of which are crows, magpies, doves and pigeons) for around 9 to 15 pence. What has been noticable is the breads manufactured by the supermarkets in other words their own brands often won't be eaten by birds ... they walk up to it and then fly away - the hedgehogs also won't touch it - they go up and sniff at it then walk away. It stays on the lawn sometimes for up to a week before it eventually disappears - presumably eaten by rats and mice. So now - even if I'm buying stale bread for the birds I am still looking for better quality stuff! LOL!! How mad is that?
Potassium bromate/bromide - hideous that it was in bread. It's a halide so one of my personal DH avoidants. It also affects iodine and has been implicated in a host of ailments. Young recruits believed potassium bromide was in the water supply .... and it definitely had a placebo effect!!!!
Tony62 mentioned Wheat-Dependent Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis but I can't see the thread.
Thinking back to my pre coeliac diagnosis days - I used to feel fine eating bread when I was abroad - Middle East, Africa and France. The loaves became rock hard and inedible the next day, so I thought my reaction in the UK was something to do with the chemicals used to preserve it. Never thought it was CD.
Have just been reading up on "Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis" - it seems it is not just wheat that causes it - and more than a few foods that Coeliacs would also eat
"The disorder has been reported with a wide variety of foods, including fruits, seeds, milk, soybean, lettuce, peas, beans, rice, and various meats "
Bread contains many ingredients other than wheat. Eggs are often used and that is a common intolerance. Sugar and milk can be used as well. Gar Gum often upsets tummys and it's used as the binder quite frequently. I eat bread as a treat once or twice a month. I seem to get away with it when I eat it less than once a week. There are so many other luncheon options...soup, salad, cheese and crackers with fruit, thin ham slices rolled and stuffed with cheese or sauteed veggies... I could go on and on. I honestly just don't miss it on a daily basis.
Apparently it has something to do with the wheat starch that changes in structure when it is frozen, thawed then cooked. As GF bread should contain no wheat starch then it most probably doesn't present with this problem.
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