It’s become a convention now that when we reach for carbohydrates it is always better to choose the complex variety found in whole grain products, vegetables, and legumes. The benefits include more fiber, nutrients, and a lower glycemic response in the body (the effect the food we consume has on the levels of our blood sugar).
A new study by the Weizmann Institute published in the journal Cell Metabolism on June 6 tested the effects of whole-wheat and white bread and found that the way it was processed by the subjects was actually dependent on their individual biology, particularly the composition of their gut microbiota, rather than on the type of bread itself.
The study was a randomized crossover trial with 20 healthy subjects. For 1 week half of the participants ate industrially made white bread while the other half ate traditionally made sourdough-leavened whole-grain bread. After a two week rest period, the groups switched.
To the surprise of researchers, there were no significant differences between the effects of the two types of bread, based on multiple clinical parameters like wakeup glucose levels, levels of essential minerals, fat and cholesterol levels, kidney and liver enzymes, and several markers for inflammation and tissue damage. About half the people had a better response to the processed, white flour bread, and the other half had a…
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