Why Refined Grains Are Harmful

There is a jingle that goes: "The whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead!"

Bread has been called the "staff of life." Unfortunately these days most folks consume grain in its refined state and this staple contains little to no nutritive properties and cannot support animal or human life.

Wheat is the key ingredient in the American diet. But after being milled, it is seldom utilized in its whole form with its components intact. Invariably, when we eat wheat, we get it in the form of bread, pies, cakes, cookies, biscuits, spaghetti, cream of wheat, cereals, and other forms that have been treated, heated, fractioned, and fragmented until it is next to impossible to recognize it for what it was originally.

A refined grain, or its product, is made by processing a natural, whole grain so that some or most of the nutrients are lost. Almost all grain products have been refined in some way or another.

White rice, cream of wheat, cookies, and bowls of snap-crackle-and-pop each morning are all examples of refined grain products.

Why are Refined Grain Products Harmful?

Refined grains and their food products are substandard foods for several reasons:
  1. They are excessively starchy and high in gluten.
  2. They are practically devoid of natural fiber.
  3. There can be up to approximately 25 different chemicals that are added to refined grains and breads products.
  4. Grains are fumigated.
  5. Bleaching chemicals are used.
  6. Artificial colorings and flavorings are used.
  7. They are nutritionally imbalanced.
Because refined grain products are nutritionally imbalanced, they are responsible for contributing to several degenerative diseases. Calcium leaching from the bones and teeth occurs because of the altered phosphorous-calcium balance in these products. Sugar and refined grain products are primarily responsible for tooth decay in this country, as well as being the major cause of brittle bones in the elderly.

A Loaf of Chemicals

The making of bread and flour products took a real turn for the worse at the end of World War 2. Bakeries in America began using large amounts of chemicals, additives, bleaches, and preservatives.

The millers discovered they could make the flour very white by bleaching it. Other chemical oxidizers are added to bleach and "mature" the flour, such as nitrogen dioxide and azocarbonamide. Are these chemicals dangerous? Well, Germany banned all such oxidizers back in 1958, almost 40 years ago!

The next step in the chemicalization of bread is to add chemical dough conditioners to the dough to enable the resulting bread to stay fresh and soft for a longer period, without getting stale while standing on grocers' shelves.

To give this softness and white-bread texture, mono- and diglycerides are added to the bread dough at the rate of about 1/4 pound per year per person consumption. This makes the bread more squeezable and fluffy. Nobody knows the effects on those that eat such additives.

Some of the chemicals used as dough conditioners are similar to the anti-freeze mix used for automobile radiators. One of the chemicals used as a dough conditioner is polyexy ethelyne monosterate. Workers in factories where this chemical is made have been known to develop skin rashes from the fumes. polyexy ethelyne monosterate is also used in making peanut butter, ice cream, candy, and salad dressings.

The average person eats about 100 pounds or so of commercial bread each year. Besides eating the refined flour, the average person also eats these toxic items in the grain products: 2 pounds of salt, 3 pounds of sugar, 2 pounds of skim milk powder, 2 pounds of yeast, 1 pound of enzyme-activator, 1/2 pound of sulfate, chloride, and bromate chemicals, and 1/4 pound of other food additives. When all of these chemicals and nonfoods are eaten together, a multi-toxic effect occurs that has never been thoroughly studied by scientists.

In Summary

The crux of the situation is that the shelf-life of products are far more important in our economy than the health and well-being of the people. If we are to lean on the "staff of life" for nutrition, we must identify the counterfeit refined grains from the real, whole grains.
In the US, the familiar white flour which is the result of modern refining process is 72% extraction. This means that it has lost 28% of the bulk of the wheat, including half or more of many of the crucial nutrients. So for optimum health, eliminate all refined flour products from your diet and use only whole grains.

Source: www.amazingdiscoveries.org/H-deception-health...
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Previous Comments

Alan commented on 24-Mar-2011 07:02 AM5 out of 5 stars
What happens to the 28% that is removed? Is it sold separately or used in other products? Is it possible to buy it and add it back to the white flour to make it whole again?
Barb Bayne commented on 24-Mar-2011 08:36 AM5 out of 5 stars
Why settle for a lesser quality that is just as harmful as white? I believe some of the brands sold on grocery shelves do just that - add a little good back to the refined white and call it "whole wheat". Check your local health food store for freshly ground, real whole wheat flour, or buy a home grain mill and grind wheat as you need it. To keep real whole wheat flour as fresh as possible, store it in a cool place, or a deep freezer, but buy in small quantities so you can use it up quickly.
Gabi commented on 24-Mar-2011 09:22 AM5 out of 5 stars
All I can say is Wow!!! How badly educated we are about what we have been eating for generations!!!
Glad Food Matters is here to educate me so in turn I can educate my children!
Regards, Gabi
Anonymous commented on 25-Mar-2011 12:20 AM5 out of 5 stars
Eating foods that are so manipulated and changed cause more than just bad nutrition. These foods are no longer recognized by the body and the body responds by causing either an allergic reaction, sensitivity or worse. If you are having problems eating wheat, white bread or gluten, then allergy treatments could help you re-balance your body and lessen or eliminate your negative response. You can see a NAET Practitioner or there is an Allergy Treatment that you can do at home, called The Allergy Kit. So many people are having allergy related health problems that it is important that you are aware of ways to deal with them and regain your health.
Ilya commented on 28-Mar-2011 09:16 AM3 out of 5 stars
Why are you advocating grains at all when they're still packed full of gluten, other lectins, and phytates? The nutrient content in grains doesn't justify taking in so many antinutrients. Even eating whole grains, people risk leptin resistance, insulin resistance, and increased gut permeability. The western diet needs a new staple.
Margaret commented on 28-Mar-2011 09:25 AM5 out of 5 stars
why dont they ban these from foods?I dont know why some things are banned in some countries and not in all
Day commented on 28-Mar-2011 10:08 AM5 out of 5 stars
I would like to see more sprouted wheat and other sprouted organic grain prodects made for the public at a price that is affordable. Healthy should be just as affordable as the dead food that we presume to be edible.
Alan commented on 28-Mar-2011 01:15 PM5 out of 5 stars
"The average person eats about 100 pounds or so of commercial bread each year."

Guess I'm not average then, I can't remember the last time I ate any of this junk, but it was many years ago. Why bother? There is so much "real" food (that doesn't try to kill you" available we don't need this rubbish in our diet.
Gary commented on 28-Mar-2011 03:35 PM5 out of 5 stars
My understanding is that the 28% that is removed has gluten and other proteins that cause immunological reactions, enzyme inhibitors, and anti-nutrients that bind to nutrients and prevent them from being used by the body. So basically, as far as a human is concerned, all of the wheat (and almost all of all grains) is total junk food that should avoided. Whole grain is just whole junk, especially when compared ounce for ounce with most any other food group.
Mario commented on 29-Mar-2011 01:59 AM5 out of 5 stars
Can any one give a list of good brands of bread? Arnold at Publix states they are free oh corn syrup; artificial flavors, colors, preservatives. It states their bread has 22g whole grains (100% whole wheat). Please advise & thank you in advance!
ED: Hi there - can't comment on any particular brands, but Essene/Ezekial sprouted grain breads or flaxseed breads are great alternatives. Jess @ Food Matters.
Ginger commented on 04-Apr-2011 09:42 PM5 out of 5 stars
Very educational, thank you however I've left this site feeling unsure of what is a good bread to buy. I have a bread machine which I use a to make wholemeal bread with, this would have to be better than the supermarket bread hence less additives but is it still not considered good?
Lisa commented on 06-Jun-2011 03:54 PM5 out of 5 stars
In Western Australia we have a great bread Co. called Bohdi's. They make sprouted grain breads & spelt breads (spelt is more digestable). I eat very little bread because I'd rather eat something with nutrients but when I do it's Bohdi's or nothing.
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