White bread is as healthy as black bread

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you choose only whole grain bread in your health care, then we hasten to disappoint you: you, too, fell for the bait of marketers. The latest research has proven that it makes no difference whether you eat the "right" bread or a regular white loaf.

How the study was conducted

Sales of white bread have dropped 75% since 1974, according to the UK National Food Survey. At the same time, sales of black and whole grain breads increased by 85% as such breads began to be considered a healthier alternative to white bread.

Experts from Israel's Weizmann Institute studied gut bacteria and measured the levels of fat, cholesterol, glucose and essential minerals such as calcium and iron in 20 healthy people.

Half of the participants ate whole grain yeast-free bread for a week, while the other half ate the same amount of white bread from a regular store.

As a rule, the participants in the experiment ate an average amount of bread - about 10% of the daily calorie requirement.

During the week, some of them ate only store-bought white bread, and the other - homemade black bread, which accounted for 25% of the daily calorie intake. The subjects then took a two-week break and switched diets.

Scientists' conclusions

"Unhealthy" bread did not show itself in any way

“Despite our expectations, tests showed that the differences between these types of bread were not clinically reflected in the parameters we studied,” said Professor Eran Sigal, lead researcher on the study. "We found no significant difference between adhering to such a diet and a regular diet."

A small sample does not show nuances, but demonstrates the main thing

“The study clearly demonstrates that eating black or white bread does not affect the parameters we are investigating in any way,” said Susan Jebb, professor of nutrition and national health at the University of Oxford. - Perhaps it is because of the group of participants that is too small for us to be able to identify minor differences. But the results of the study are that this or that type of bread does not have a significant measurable impact on health."

Professor Jebb warns that a small control group does not allow other factors to be explored that could affect the outcome.

Study participants change habits

“People who take part in the study often change their behavior in a variety of ways. For example, if we ask participants to change the amount of bread they eat, they can, without noticing it, change something else in the diet at the same time,”said Professor Jebb.

However, different people generally react differently to the same food. It all depends on the individual intestinal microflora. Experts also warn: do not rush to final conclusions, since the experiments were carried out on a small sample and only a week of eating each type of bread.