Is white bread just as healthy as brown?

Conclusion Studies that suggest "everything you thought you knew about healthy eating is wrong" create great headlines, but rarely stand up to much analysis. There are many reasons why you might choose wholemeal bread over white bread, and results from a week-long study in 20 people aren't going to change all of those. The main measure of interest in the study is glycaemic control, a measure of how quickly the body can process glucose consumed in the diet. Poor glycaemic control is seen as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, where the body can't process glucose properly, leading to high blood sugar, which can damage blood vessels. The study showed no overall difference over the course of a week in people's ability to process glucose, assessed by which type of bread they ate. It may be that the study was too short to show a change. But there are other reasons to eat wholemeal bread, including the benefits of eating plenty of fibre, which can help digestion and has been linked to a lower risk of bowel cancer. What the study did seem to find was that different people react differently to different foods, which isn't a big surprise. It's interesting that this seems to be linked to the bacteria that live in your gut. This might be of interest to dietitians and doctors treating people with diabetes or poor glycaemic control. But there's no need to worry about getting tests of your gut bacteria or swapping from your preferred type of bread if you have normal blood gl...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news