Ask Dr. H: Why wheat bread is better than white

Question:

What's the difference between white bread and wheat bread? Aren't both made from wheat?

Answer: Both are made from wheat, but different parts of the wheat berry (i.e., the whole grain). And that makes all the difference. Wheat berries have three parts: the bran, the germ, and the inner endosperm.

The flour for white bread uses only the endosperm, while whole-wheat flour uses all three parts. The bran and wheat germ contain most of the wheat grain's nutritional value. White bread is much lower in fiber, B vitamins, zinc, trace elements, and healthy oils because those the bran and germ are discarded.

Even though white bread is typically fortified with vitamins, it is still not a substitute for whole grain flour. White bread flour is also bleached with potassium bromate, peroxide or chlorine dioxide gas.

Be aware that unless wheat bread lists whole grain flour as its first ingredient, it may just be white bread flour dyed with caramel coloring to make it appear like whole wheat bread.

With celiac disease,

gluten is off-limits

Q: A few months ago, I was found to have celiac disease. I have to avoid gluten-containing products, but because so many things contain gluten, it has been really hard. Do you have any suggestions?

A: Celiac sprue is a very difficult condition to live with because there are so many foods that contain gluten. For those unfamiliar, it's a condition where the immune system abnormally reacts to gluten protein in wheat, rye, and barley.

It's another one of those mysterious "autoimmune" reactions where, for unclear reasons, gluten protein triggers a destruction of the tiny villi projections in the small intestine that are responsible for the absorption of all sorts of important nutrients, including iron and Vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid. Roughly 1 percent of the world's 6.6 billion people have celiac disease - as many as 3 million right here in the United States.

While celiac disease is most commonly seen in childhood, you know personally that it can first appear in adulthood. Sometimes, folks with celiac sprue are misdiagnosed as having irritable bowel syndrome (spastic colon). Unexplained iron deficiency may be one clue to celiac versus irritable bowel syndrome.

Since celiac disease has no cure, it is managed by elimination of gluten. That's not easy, however, since so many foods contain gluten in forms that aren't always obvious by reading a label. Any products made from wheat, rye, barley, and (possibly) oats - including beer, food starch, durum, and semolina - should be avoided. Rice, corn, beans, and peas are fine. I recommend these websites for a wide array of gluten-free foods: www.glutenfreemall.com; www.glutensolutions.com; www.glutenfree-supermarket.com.

An exciting piece of new research has shown that wheat flour fully broken down by healthy bacteria is sufficiently gluten-free to be safely consumed by those with celiac disease. The availability of "fully hydrolyzed" wheat flour and how it tastes are two unknowns.