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Some remarks about bread
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Preparation of flour, cereals and other products from whole grains has been widely used since ancient times and retains its importance to the present day. Bread from whole grains has long been one of the most common food products in various countries, particularly in Ukraine. Flour from whole grains has a number of advantages that can be increased by using modern technology. However, today bread from purified varietal flour dominates. The latter is significantly different from flour, obtained from whole grains. Thus, the outer shells of the grain, the embryo and the scutellum, as well as the surface layer of the endosperm, the aleuron layer, are excluded from the composition of the varietal flour. As can be seen from the table, when obtaining high-grade flour, a loss of about 20-30% of the grain mass occurs. It should be noted that in the bran leaves a large number of valuable foods, including vitamins and lipids, containing mainly essential for food unsaturated fatty acids, as well as mineral salts and dietary fiber. It is especially significant that about 30% of the most valuable proteins in bran go away. Brans, both wheaten and rye, contain a number of valuable food components, including dietary fibers, proteins, fats, etc.
The chemical composition of wheat and rye bran (on: Dudkin et al, 1988, with changes)
Composition of bran |
The amount of the corresponding substance in the bran (% to absolutely dry matter) | |
Wheat bran |
Rye bran | |
Hemicellulose |
26.60 |
35.31 |
Cellulose |
8.80 |
4.60 |
Lignin |
9.90 |
9.82 |
The sum of food fiber polysaccharides + lignin |
45.30 |
49.73 |
Protein (N 6x25) |
14.80 |
17.02 |
Fats |
3.22 |
3.26 |
Ash |
5.95 |
5.64 |
Starch |
23.01 |
21.20 |
Further improvement in the properties of bread and the quality of food (especially with respect to high-grade proteins) can be achieved in several additional ways. So, in particular, in Great Britain and a number of other countries, this is done by adding 2-6% of dried milk powder to the flour of the main commercial varieties. This dairy product is approximately 60% composed of easily digestible high-grade animal proteins, which together with the gluten proteins of bread mutually enrich each other. The quality of bread can also be improved by the addition of some other commercially available agricultural products, produced as separate food additives.
A new grade of bread with addition of 3% of dietary fiber was recently developed. In this bread, the total amount of dietary fiber is almost 1.6 times higher than in conventional bread, and the calorific value is 6% lower. At the same time, a new type of bread contains 1.5% pectin, which is absent from ordinary bread.
It is important that the use of dietary fiber gives an economic effect, as with this the consumption of wheat flour is reduced. Even more significantly, the consumption of rich in ballast substances increases the daily intake of food from the dietary fiber and more fully meets the needs of the person.
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Conclusions and comments
It should be noted that the consumption of food is not only the way of introducing into our body the necessary building and energy materials. It is also a way of getting various alien substances, sometimes harmful or even very harmful, that accumulate in food products on the long way of getting them. In a number of cases, attempts to increase the yield by any means result in excessive amounts of fertilizers, such as nitrogenous fertilizers, entering the soil and accumulation of toxins and industrial contaminants in food products. Meanwhile, at the end of the trophic chain there is a person for whom increasing the concentration of nitrates in food is fraught with the risk of developing a number of diseases, including malignant tumors. At the same time, great achievements in obtaining high yields based on highly cultivated agriculture are well known. It has long-standing and remarkable both industrial and scientific traditions in our country.
Finally, nutrition is also an essential element of relaxation (relaxation), a kind of time-out in the tense life of a person, overflowing with various stresses. Favorable, quiet nutritional conditions are necessary both for normal digestion of food, and for maintaining a normal rhythm of life. This should be borne in mind when organizing not only all forms of public, but also home meals.
The latter is important not only at the present time, but will have even greater significance in the future as the technological power of man and his art increases, to design food products that until now were considered the property of nature. In addition, the concept of adequate nutrition has a general philosophical meaning, since the problem of ideal food and ideal nutrition, which is discussed in the next chapter, should be analyzed from these positions.
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