Wheat bread’s bad rap gives bakers, scientists something to chew on

Wheat is a dirty word in many quarters thesedays, one of them being the figure-conscious crowd. Proponents of alow-carb diet have declared wheat, or predominantly wheat, bread to beoff-limits, since its carbohydrates are supposedly fattening.And to some extent they’re right, says dietician Sven Bach.“Twoslices of bread and jam for breakfast, later a sandwich snack, wheatnoodles at lunch, a sweet pastry made from wheat flour in the afternoon,and bread again at supper – that’s too much,” he remarks.So is wheat bread a demon we should steer clear of? Bach says no.“Bread won’t make you fat or stupid. Don’t shun bread, wheat bread included!” Butif your eating habits are like those he describes, Bach recommends thatyou replace half of your bread intake with vegetables or salad andsimply eat the slice of cheese you would normally put in your sandwich.Only 40 percent of your daily diet should consist of carbohydrates, hesays, along with 40 percent fat and 20 percent protein.A diet toohigh in sugar can lead to many maladies, such as diabetes and heartattacks, notes Stefan Kabisch, a clinical research physician at theGerman Institute of Human Nutrition.When you explain to people thatall carbohydrates are made up of sugars, he says, they “completelyoverreact” by deeming all sources of carbohydrates to be harmful,including ordinary bread.Although there’s been little scientificresearch on the nutritive value of so-called protein bread, Kabischregards it as an alternative for people who want to cut down oncarbohydrates without breaking with their bread-eating habits.Forhim, the key question isn’t whether a loaf of bread is made of wheat,but from wholemeal or white flour. While the former is high in fibre andalso filling, he points out, the latter causes a rapid spike in bloodsugar levels, followed by a crash shortly afterwards. Wheat-based bakedgoods have fallen out of favour not only among waistline watchers thanksto gluten, a mixture of proteins found in many cereal grains,especially wheat, to which some people are intolerant.Gluten has been widely stamped as a culinary villain in recent years.“Thefact is that most people feel better without gluten,” claims, forexample, a recipe for gluten-free, low-carb bread on the website of asports magazine. For Kabisch, that’s not a fact at all.“Ninety-fivepercent of the normal population can eat gluten with no problem,” hesays. “But a huge number of mostly young people believe it’s harmful foreveryone.”The baking industry is feeling the pinch as a result.“Bakersreport despairingly that people tell them they no longer tolerate wheatbread, but can eat spelt,” says Friedrich Longin, an agriculturalbiologist in charge of wheat research at the University of Hohenheim inGermany.Migraines or gastrointestinal problems are often cited as symptoms.There’s no scientific evidence, however, that wheat is less readily tolerable than other cereal grains, Longin says.Togetherwith baker Heiner Beck and miller Hermann Guetler, Longin wants toseparate out the chaff when it comes to claims about wheat.To thisend, the three recently gathered for a ‘bake-a-thon’ at Beck’s bakeryand confectionery shop in the German municipality of Roemerstein. Theybaked 42 kinds of wheat bread over three days, using varieties of wheatgrown organically and conventionally, with less and more nitrogenfertiliser.They also varied the manner of preparation. Half of thedough balls were left to proof for slightly less than two hours beforebaking, as is now customary for most bakers and industrial breadproducers.The other half was allowed to rise for 24 hours, atraditional approach that Longin says may improve the bread’sdigestibility, since the gluten proteins have more time to break down.The bake-a-thon concluded with taste tests, and further tests are planned in the laboratory.Bernd Kuetscher, General Manager of the German Bread Institute, doesn’t seem very worried about widespread anti-wheat sentiment.Hesays arguments against the grain are half-baked and sensationalised bybooks and media reports that are less interested in presenting factsthan in boosting sales and circulation.As Kuetscher sees it, bread’spublic image has indeed changed – for the better. He says people havebecome more aware of the enjoyability of “the number one food.” In fact,Germany’s bread culture is now even on Unesco’s Intangible CulturalHeritage list.“The value of bread is rising enormously,” he says. – DPA