Page 821 - 1970S

as Graham we.re conside.red eccentrics
who had gotten much too excited over
something they couldn't prove. There
was "no real scientific basis" for claim–
ing that wbite fl.our was nutritionally
inferior to wholemeal.
But the discovery of vitamins and
trace minerals changed things. Two
prominent nutritionists had this to say:
"The superiority of wholemeal over
white ftour could be demonstrated in
a variety of experiments on animals.
Moreover it was shown that in roan the
nutritional disorder beriberi could arise
as a direct consequence of a diet in
which bread made from white flour
predominated.
" .. . This demonst.rable deficiency of
thiarnine and other vitamins in low–
extraction fl.our, and the practica!
knowledge of the diseases that could
arise therefrom ... convinced most nu–
tritionists between the two world wars
of the advantage of high-extraction
flour ( Hrtman N utrition a1td Dietetics,
by S. Davidson and R. Passmore,
p. 254).
What About "Enrichment"?
In both Britain and the United
States, bakers began to "eorich" bread.
In the U. S., enrichment of white low–
extraction flour began on a voluntary
basis in 1941. It was made mandatory
for all bakery white breads and rolls
from 1943 to 1946. When this war
rñ-easure was rescinded in October of
1946, more than haH the states contin–
ued to require enrichment, and sorne
processors and bakers continued to en–
rich their products on a voluntary basis.
It is economically feasible to replace
only what are called vitamins Bl, B2 ,
B3 , and iron. The iron is generally in
ferric form, which the body cannot
absorb as well as ferrous iron. Recent
tests have shown that the body absorbs
greater amounts of íron from whole
wheat fl.our than from enriched fl.our
containing a like amount of iron.
The term enrichment is unfortunate.
In fact, it is almost humorous to call
such bread enriched, when miliing re–
moves 40% of the chromium, 50% of
the pantothenic acid, 30% of the
choline, 86% of the manganese, 16%
of the seleniuro, 78% of the zinc, 76%
The PLAIN TRUTH
of tbe iron, 89% of the cobalt, 60% of
the calcium, 78% of the sodium, 77%
of the potassium, 85% of the magne–
sium, 71% of the phosphorus, 77% of
the vitamin B, , 67% of the folie acid,
most of the vitamin A, 80% of the vita–
min B 2 , 81% of the vitamin B8 , 72%
of the vitamin BG, most of tbe vitamin
D and 86% of the vitamin E.
How important are these elements?
Read the following and judge for
yourself.
What Deficient Flour
Means to You
Heart attack and diabetes victims are
generally deficient in the chemícal ele–
ment chromium. When experimental
animals are deprived of this element the
inner walls of their blood vessels be–
come thick with fatty deposits much
like those which clog the arteries and
cause heart attacks in humans.
Chickens and other experimental ani–
mals deprived of manganese grow
improperly and become sterile.
Rats and chickens deprived of sele–
t'lium undergo liver deterioration.
Zinc speeds the healing of wounds.
And a severe deficieocy of zinc has been
known to produce dwarfs.
Cobalt is vital to the maturing of the
red blood cells which carry the iron,
which in turn carries tbe life-bearing
oxygen in every wann-blooded animal
and man.
Calcittm is essential in bone and tooth
formation. Without sufficient sodittm
the body cells will either dry up or
swell to the bursting point.
Magnesittm activates exchanges of
energy within cells.
Phosphoms mediates all the energy
exchanges throughout the body, enabl–
ing us to move and think.
Normal manufacture of DNA and
RNA, the chemicals which pass along
the genetic code from one generation to
the next, depends a great deal on an
adequate supply of vitamin B1 , vitamin
B 12 , and folie acid. Steroid hormones
cannot be produced in the human body
without pantothenic acid, nor can sound
cell walls be built without cholíne.
Vitarnin A is essential in the main–
tenance of good vision and unblernished
skin.
August 1971
Vitamin B 2 is important in the main–
tenance of mucous membranes of the
eyes, mouth, and tongue. Vitamin B3 is
an important safeguard against pellagra.
Vitamio B6 is an important element in
the metabolism of the amino acids from
which are built the proteins that make
up most of tbe body. Vitamin D is an
important mediary in utilizing calcium
to strengthen the bones. Vitamin E is
ímportant in retaining the structural
integrity of cell m,embranes.
AU these are vital elements found in
wheat; all these vital elements are miss–
ing to one degree or another in white
flour. All these vital elements are found
in the correct ratios and balance in
whole wheat.
With this in mind, it is a little dis–
gusting to hear the disciples of enrich–
ment refer to white bread as a "modest
miracle." Doesn't it seem a little odd to
take most of the original organic food
value away, put a few chemical substi–
tutes back in, and joyfully call the
result miraculous?
Dr. W. H . Sebrell of the U. S. Public
Health Service was strong in his remark
during the forties when the original
controversy was on. "To me it does
seem a little ridiculous," he said, "to
take a natural foodstuff in which the
vitarnins and minerals have been placed
by nature, submit this foodstuff to a re–
fining process which removes them and
then add them back to the refined prod–
uct at an increased cost. If this is the
object, why not follow the cheaper,
more sensible, and nutritionally more
desirable procedure of simply using the
unrefined, or at most, slightly refined
natural food ?"
The Finished Product
White bread may look nice. It smells
all right. It is very bandily sliced into
convenient uniform sections. It also
bounces if you wad it up into a little
ball.
Nutritionally, it is more or less worth–
less.
So fa.r, it has not been controversially
linked to cancer, although sorne of the
nutrients removed from it help the body
fight this disease. It won't kili you in–
stantly - your death may be long and
lingering.
Presideot Nixon's French-born nutrí-