The following illustration and description of a grain of wheat are representative of all grains, as the anatomy or structure of all grains is basically the same.
The bran is composed of tissues between the outer seed coat and the aleurone, which is the granular protein layer in the outermost layer of the endosperm. The endosperm, the storage compartment of the grain, is composed primarily of protein and carbohydrates. The germ contains the embryo or sprouting section of the grain.
In the production of flour, the bran, aleurone layer, the germ are typically removed, leaving only the endosperm. This process has both negative and positive effects. The negative effect is the removing the bran and the germ results in the loss of many key nutrients. The positive, if you like, is increased shelf life (that for us at Seriously Italian, as we are distributing our pasta directly to you weekly, is not a significant benefit).
To compensate for the loss of nutrients, white flour is enriched with nutrients. Specifically, in the UK iron, thiamine, and niacin are, by law, added to white and brown flour (but not wholemeal). This practice began in World War II when food shortages were anticipated. The levels of these nutrients in enriched white flour are slightly higher than those found in whole-wheat flour.
Beriberi and thiamine.
As highlighted, refining the grain results in a significant loss of nutrient. Of particular importance is the loss of thiamine (vitamin B1).
A severe deficiency of thiamine results in a condition known as beriberi. Beriberi was relatively common in the general population of Asia and, globally, in sailors and in prison populations. Prior to the 1890s, the cause of Beriberi was not known.The first clue occured in 1873, when a Dutch naval doctor observed that when the amount of white rice (polished at least three times to remove the outer portions of the grain and the germ) in the diet of of the East Indies sailors was decreased, the rate of Beriberi was decreased, but it was thought that it was caused by some toxin in the white rice. Kanehiro Takaki, a Japanese naval doctor, was the first to report that beriberi seemed to be a nutritional deficiency based on reducing its incidence by adding additional meat, dry milk and vegetables to Japanese sailors. It was then the Ducth physician Christaan Eijkman to notice that when fowl were fed a diet solely consisting of polished white rice, they developed symptoms similar to beriberi. By adding rice polishing, the material rmoved from whole rice to produce white rice, to the feed, Eijkman was able to cure the fowl of beriberi.
In 1911, Funk, working at the Lister Institute in London, isolated from rice polishing what he considered the substance that would cure/prevent beriberi. Funk termed his discovery a vitamine. What Funk actually isolated, however, turned out to be the antipellagra vitamin, or niacin (vitamin B3). In 1926, pure thiamine, the anti beriberi vitamin, was isolated by two Dutch scientists, Jansen and Donath, working in Java.
Today, white rice is often enriched with thiamine and other nutrients lost during milling. However, Beriberi is still prevalent in many part of Asia, where the rice supplies up to 80% of the total calories. Beriberi and many other nutrient deficiencies in developing world countries coould be prevented if the people simply ate whole grains.
Nutrional highlights.
The story of beriberi and the discovery of thiamine highlights the value of whole grains over polished grains. In addition to many known nutrients, whole grains provide substantially more phytochemicals, and possibly many unknown compounds with health promoting properties as well.
Instead of removing natural nutrients from the grains and then adding back a small portion of their synthetic counterparts, wouldn’t it make more sense to eat whole grains?
As a standard rule, wheat products such as pasta, noodles, breads, and biscuits use flour that undergoes a process in which 60% of the wheat grain is removed. INcluded in the 60% lost are the most nutritious aspects of the wheat: the bran and the germ. As a result more than half of the B vitamins, folic acid, zinc, copper, phosphorus, calcium, and iron are removed.
Unextracted whole wheat (wholemeal), on the other hand, yeald a good supply of dietary fiber and manganese. It also contains a healthful portion of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and E and folic acid, as well as calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, protein, magnesium and iron.
Diets rich in whole grains have been shown to be protective against the development of chronic degenerative diseases, especially cancer, diabetes, and varicose veins; and diseases of the colon, including colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, hemorrhoids, and diverticulitis. More specifically the ability of whole grains foods to improve insulin sensitivity may be an important mechanism through which whole grains reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
(extract from The encyclopedia of healing foods, Murray, Pizzorno, Pizzorno -Piatkus Books, London, 2005).
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