What's lurking in that loaf of bread?

I haven’t purchased a loaf of bread in two-and-a-half months now, ever since I realized that I could save a substantial amount of money by making my own bread.

Since then I’ve wondered about the health implications of a choice that was initially driven mostly by my budget. Rather than just assuming that we were eating healthier bread now, I thought I’d do a comparison of the two types of loaves.

My recipe for whole wheat bread uses:

• water and/or milk
• yeast
• eggs
• honey or molasses
• salt
• whole wheat flour
• wheat gluten

The standard 100% whole wheat loaf of bread that I used to buy includes (brace yourself):

• whole grain whole wheat flour including the germ (that’s actually how they wrote it out)
• water
• glucose fructose / sugar
• yeast
• vegetable oil (canola or soybean)
• salt
• wheat gluten
• vinegar
• calcium propionate
• sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate
• monoglycerides
• acetylated tartaric acid
• esters of mono and diglycerides
• sorbic acid
• may contain calcium iodate, calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, cornstarch, ammonium chloride

The first eight I recognized. The rest I looked up and came away from unimpressed

Calcium propionate is a pretty standard preservative in the food industry. According to its material safety data sheet (pdf), this compound has a health risk of “2″ (where “4″ represents life-threatening danger). A rank of 2 means it’s likely to cause temporary or minor injuries. I read elsewhere that some suspect the compound may cause sleep problems and restlessness in children, although I cannot find any confirmation of that. That’s okay, though — that MSDS sheet has given me enough to know that I want to steer clear of it.

The remaining additives fall into the class of either “conditioners” (additives that make the dough have the texture we want) or “emulsifiers” (additives that enable oil and water to mix, thereby stabilizing the mixture). There are no known health hazards associated with these additives. Yet.

So while that purchased loaf of 100% whole wheat bread isn’t likely to do a lot of immediate damage to our health, it’s anyone’s guess what its long-term health impact might be.

I’m doubly glad I’m making my own bread these days.

_____

Image by ninjapoodles