Internet celebrity bread exposed! Test results are shocking...

bread

Delicious, easy to store and carry

Many people have a standard breakfast, including whole wheat bread

A must-have for people who want to lose weight

Nowadays, more and more people are trying to lose weight and control their sugar intake through whole-wheat bread, but the results may be counterproductive: those who are trying to lose weight are getting fatter, and those who are trying to control their sugar intake have higher blood sugar levels...

Recently, the Shanghai Consumer Council sent the Pastoralism Low-Fat Whole Wheat European Bread, which claims to be the best-selling whole wheat bread, to a professional institution for testing and found that the carbohydrate content was about 36% more than the nominal value, and the energy contained was 40% more than advertised .

Many netizens said: It’s too difficult. I bought whole wheat bread to lose weight, but now I’m getting fatter and fatter…

Today we will study:

What is the difference between whole wheat bread and regular bread?

Can whole wheat bread definitely help you lose weight?

How to choose whole wheat bread?

Whole wheat bread

Whole wheat bread refers to bread made with whole wheat flour that has not removed the bran and germ on the outside of the wheat. Compared with ordinary flour that only contains endosperm, whole wheat flour includes germ, endosperm and bran. The retention of bran and germ makes whole wheat flour have a higher nutritional value.

When making whole wheat bread, yeast fermentation can not only break down phytic acid that affects digestion and increase B vitamins, but also improve the bioavailability of minerals. Therefore, "real" whole wheat bread can be regarded as a staple food in the health food world.

The inner and outer structure of wheat grains, source: Science Popularization China

The most prominent nutritional component of whole wheat bread compared to ordinary white bread is that it is rich in B vitamins, vitamin E, dietary fiber, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids, etc. In addition, the carbohydrate, protein and fat content of whole wheat bread is lower than that of ordinary white bread .

So, on the whole, whole wheat bread is healthier than ordinary bread.

Can whole wheat bread help you lose weight?

Whole wheat bread has a strong sense of fullness, which theoretically helps to control weight. However, in addition to calories, weight loss is also related to the cumulative effects of fullness, blood sugar response, fat synthesis, and bacterial flora structure.

The GI value (glycemic index) of whole wheat flour is 45, and the GI value of whole wheat bread is 50, which are lower than rice and white bread. Therefore, blood sugar rises more slowly after eating whole wheat bread, which can reduce insulin secretion and inhibit fat synthesis. At the same time, the dietary fiber content of whole wheat flour is about 10.8%. The presence of high dietary fiber can increase satiety and thus reduce food intake.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that adults consume 50g-150g of whole grains and beans per day. Compared with ordinary flour, whole wheat flour contains 17 times the dietary fiber, three times the vitamin B1, twice the vitamin B2, and a high content of minerals . The cellulose can help suppress appetite and help clear the intestines and promote bowel movements.

Research published in the Journal of Nutrition shows that replacing refined grains with whole grains can reduce the increase in waist circumference, blood pressure and blood sugar with age, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Overall, genuine whole-wheat bread does have the health benefits of controlling weight and reducing the incidence of chronic diseases . But fake whole-wheat bread is not necessarily the same. For example, the "Pastoral Low-Fat Whole-Wheat European Bread" exposed by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee this time was tested by a professional organization and found to be:

The actual carbohydrate content of this product is 45.7g/100g, which is about 16% higher than the nominal value ; the energy contained is nominally 764kJ/100g, and the actual detection is 1060kJ/100g, which is 40% higher than the nominal value .

Third-party testing report released by Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee

The product's online store promotion page states that the energy of a single original whole wheat bread is 155 kcal. However, according to test results, the actual energy of a single bread is 901 kcal. Based on the conversion of 1 kcal = 4.19 kcal, the actual energy of the bread is about 215 kcal, which is much higher than the company's nominal value.

Therefore, if consumers consume according to the amount recommended by the company, they will not only fail to lose weight, but will gain weight due to excessive calorie intake.

When choosing whole wheat bread, you should not just look at the product name . Because whole wheat bread has high nutritional value, many businesses sell ordinary white bread under the guise of "whole wheat". Therefore, consumers should carefully identify and choose.

How to choose whole wheat bread

1. Look at the ingredient list

For packaged whole-wheat bread, you can pay attention to its ingredient list and nutritional information. The U.S. Whole Grains Council stipulates that a food can be called a whole-wheat food only if the whole-wheat flour accounts for more than 64% of the food ingredients.

Although the Chinese food market has not yet established a unified standard, many products are labeled as "whole wheat", but the "truth" can be seen from the ranking of the ingredient list:

If the proportion of whole wheat flour content ranks first, it can be regarded as whole wheat bread ; if the whole wheat flour content ranks second or even lower, the later the ranking, the less whole wheat content, and it is not a whole wheat food in the strict sense.

2. Look at the appearance

For unpackaged whole-wheat bread, you can observe its appearance. Whole-wheat bread often has a slightly burnt color and a rough texture because it contains bran. If you cut whole-wheat bread, you can see many small grains of bran with the naked eye. However, the brown color does not necessarily mean that the product is whole-wheat bread.

In order to reduce costs and attract customers, some businesses add caramel to white flour and use high-temperature charcoal to bake it into a light brown color, making the bread look a bit "dark", but it is still essentially white bread.

In addition, bread with germ and bran added is very similar in appearance to whole wheat bread, so you need to carefully distinguish them.

3. Taste

Whole wheat bread has a rough texture and a strong wheat aroma, which becomes more fragrant the more you chew it . Although bread with germ or bran added also tastes rough after processing, the bran lacks the fullness of wheat grains in the mouth.

When buying whole wheat bread, pay attention to its shelf life. Since it has higher nutritional value than white bread, is rich in B vitamins, and is more conducive to the survival of microorganisms, it is more prone to mold.