Wheat intolerance and IBS - Are you OK eating sourdough bread?

[Nomorewheat]

I experience wheat intolerance when I eat bread or pasta containing wheat. This is normally shown by bloating soon after eating even a small quantity.

As a food scientist, I believe that this might be due to the naturally occurring sugars in wheat flour, rather than wheat gluten as I know I am not coeliac and don't have a wheat allergy.

I also know that I can "safely" eat food products containing small quantities of wheat, for example sausages and breadcrumb coated chicken kyiv. However when it comes to eating "normal" wheat bread...Boom, I quickly experience gas build up, bloating and farting soon after eating.

I decided to try real sourdough bread from artisan bakers. Although expensive, scientifically the slow dough proofing / fermentation process uses these naturally occurring sugars, to produce carbon dioxide that gives the desired gas bubbles and bread texture. Based on scientific literature, I have seen the belief that this slow fermentation probably reduces the levels of these naturally occurring sugars. For me, I can eat this type of artisan sourdough with significantly reduced symptoms compared to other wheat breads.

Sadly I don't get the same level of benefits if I eat "fake" sourdough, often described as "sourfaux" that is sold be supermarkets including the discount chains like Aldi. The Aldi sourdough, especially the seeded and dark rye are both good but sometimes they seem "wet" and maybe haven't been processed as much as normal and most likely not like artisan sourdough due to the industrial scale baking processes used.

In my mind, I feel eating real / genuine / artisan sourdough is beneficial, for the reasons outlined above.

I know eating artisan sourdough is not possible for everyone, based on cost / availability but my questions to the IBS community who suffer from wheat intolerance, is have you tried "real" sourdough and does it work for you? I know it costs more money but the gluten free breads like the excellent Schaar products are also expensive.

What is your experience with real / artisan sourdough, even if it is only an occasional treat?

[BabsyWabsy]

Hi Nomorewheat. Retired food scientist here with a diagnosis of wheat allergy thought to be caused by a bout of Noro, followed a few weeks later by an interim role in a large commercial bakery. A taste panel each morning of everything produced in the previous 24 hours seems to have precipitated this. Coeliac was negative, but bloods were taken unexpectedly after I had stopped eating wheat (!?)Before diagnosis, I could eat some proper sourdough which I sourced from Riverford, and this was OK. But over time I have become increasingly sensitive, and now the slightest cross contamination is a problem. Hopefully, if this is an intolerance and not an allergy, it should not progress for you. It is very annoying how supermarkets have jumped on the the sourfaux wagon, and may be difficult for many people. I am OK with rye, barley and oats, so I am experimenting with rye bread at the moment. So far, it tastes good, but is rock hard Onward & upward.

[ruskin10]

In my case it's trial and error. Sometimes I do ok with it, sometimes it doesn't. I chance it with crumpets and some bread occasionally. Best wishes

[BabblingBrooks]

I had allergy testing by an alternative health practitioner and he recommended sourdough bread as an alternative.

[MistyDay]

I found your post interesting Naively, I assumed sourdough which is unsliced, unwrapped, brown or rye from bakery counters in my several local supermarkets , where they bake on site, was of the quality of artisan bread.I tend to shop in Waitrose, M&S, Sainsburies, or Tescos all near to me. I understand there are other supermarkets with fresh bread counters. Sadly there are no independent bakeries nearby. Is there anyway to tell which ones are not fake sourdough? Feeling ignorant about this but not afraid to ask? I also wish smaller loaves were available as good bread goes very hard quickly.Is there any you or others recommend? Thanks for your help. All suggestions appreciated.

[Zantecat]

Interesting having an actual scientifically trained person , with vested interest in this subject!

As a scientist, you will know that variables affect results, the way you describe your testing seems a little simplified/ skewed.

You say you get symptoms after eating bread or pasta, how do you know that it isn’t because of the ‘type’ of flour used , or the protein content?

The breaded products you mentioned ( Kiev etc) probably do not contain yeast, is absence of this that helps? Or the fact that there is actually less wheat consumed?

I agree that sourdough breads usually take longer to ‘prove’ etc than other breads( or do they?) , but they also don’t contain the same yeasts, they have a ‘ mother starter’ which is a different type of ‘ raising agent’ than other breads, how do you know that the absence of yeast is the thing that helps?

In my simple ( non scientific trained ) mind I would think that cooked yeast is dead , but is it?

I know that double cooking starches ( chips, potato etc) makes starch resistant and more difficult to digest. Do these variables apply?

I am excited that a person with your knowledge but also has personal issues with these things is investigating this, but I really think it is a lot less simple than picking a food and theory than thoroughly testing it.

I think you could be on to something but can you test/ and prove it?