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World Bread Day What kind of bread is best for health?
Whole wheat and sourdough bread are the best options to include in your diet
Bread is a fundamental element in our diet. Although its use has been reduced, it continues to be a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet. Today, October 16, it celebrates its world day. And it is in this “World Bread Day”, created with the aim of promoting its consumption, we explain which breads are the best for your diet.
When it comes to choosing a type of bread, Beatriz Robles, a food safety consultant, is clear: the healthiest are the whole grain breads and those made from sourdough. “And if we had to choose and stay only with one, the better the integral one”, he points out.
Likewise, Robles explains that the least beneficial breads for our diet are precooked white breads. «This type of bread uses refined flour, and its manufacturing process means that it is not produced short chain organic acids that do appear in other breads, “explains the expert.
To know what to look at when choosing a bread, we must take into account the new law that came into force on July 1 and that regulates the way in which bread that is put up for sale must be labeled.
This new law only allows, from now on, a bread to be called integral only if the 100% of the flour used is whole. “In the case of a mixture, the percentage of whole wheat flour must be specified in the name of the product.”
The law doesn’t just focus on whole wheat breads. “The term multigrain was used uncontrollably before, and now breads must meet certain characteristics to be able to use it,” says Robles. «It is the same with the artisan bread, long-leavening bread or wood-fired bread, are terms that can no longer be used for free ”.
What should I look at the label?
Beatriz Robles explains that since the law went into effect at the beginning of the summer and is still in a transition period, we must be careful when shopping. “The first thing we have to do is look at the label, check the percentage of refined flour, or not, that the bread contains,” says the expert. «Also, you have to check if the product contains the characteristic ingredients of bread. If we see that it contains sugars, vegetable fats, oil… they are not prohibited but they are not necessary for it to be good bread, ”he points out.
To choose better bread
- A good bread should have water, flour and salt as its main (almost unique) ingredients.
- Whole grain breads, as well as sourdough, are the healthiest.
- We must look carefully at the labels. Even with the new regulations, when continuing in a transition process, it is important to look closely at the ingredients.
Finally, Robles explains a “void” that affects consumers. «Legally they have to tell us the percentage of the ingredients, the information on allergens and the sales denomination», He explains and continues:« but that is the only mandatory information ».
The expert comments on the difficulty for customers to distinguish a good bread beyond that. “In the case of sourdough bread, for example, it has a very distinctive smell, but it is difficult to identify it right at the time of purchase,” he says. “It is a gap by which consumers are not very protected,” he ends.