So what makes white bread so unhealthy? It’s something in the flour

We all know how bad white bread is for us. Several years ago a study even found that it “was the food most strongly related to diabetes.”

But not for the reason you think…

No, it actually has to do with how researchers give lab rats diabetes.

They give them something called alloxan.

Alloxan is an amazing chemical. It can actually destroy the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. So it’s the go-to compound if you need to get yourself a diabetic rat to study.

Of course there’s another group of lab rats out there – you and me — and everyone else who eats.

We all get our regular doses of alloxan as well. It comes in white bread, pizza dough, cookies and cakes, or anything made with bleached flour.

The chemical isn’t deliberately added to flour, but comes about due to a chemical reaction in the bleaching process. It forms when chlorine, added to make the flour super-white and pure looking, reacts with protein in the flour.

Okay, white bread and other products made with bleached flour are certainly not health foods by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that they contain a chemical known to cause diabetes – even if it’s just a tiny amount – really pushes them over the edge.

And that gives you another very good reason to stick with whole-wheat and whole-grain foods, and to take any item containing bleached flour off your shopping list once and for all.

Source:

“Pharmacist: Coconut water may help diabetes” Suzy Cohen, February 28, 2015, Tulsa World, tulsaworld.com