Pseudo-diets won: people were frightened by the supposedly harmful properties of bread

“The main mission of bread is to bring joy to people. Bread is the first product in the population’s diet,” says the famous scientist, academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Kosovan.

Unfortunately, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle has led to the fact that bread has become overgrown with a huge number of myths. Even some doctors believe in them, and other popular nutritionists even spread them. As a result, consumption of the “first product” in the country is declining.

Scientists decided to debunk these myths during the session of the XVIII All-Russian Congress with international participation “Nutrition and Dietetics for the Health of the Russian Population.”

People strive to lead a healthy lifestyle with minimal changes to their habits and often become victims of the so-called pseudo-healthy lifestyle, experts say. Meanwhile, apologists for pseudo-healthy lifestyle are spreading a huge number of myths, one more ridiculous than the other.

According to the director of the State Research Institute of Bread, Maria Kostyuchenko, today there is a popular myth that yeast cultures negatively affect digestion, cause fermentation, inhibit beneficial microflora, provoke cancer, and fungal diseases. But the fact is that there is no scientifically based information about the negative effects of yeast on the human body. Today you can find a lot of horror stories about yeast on the Internet. One of the popular ones is that they were invented by Hitler. Although the first yeast factories appeared in the 19th century, when Hitler was not yet in sight. Scientists also laugh at the term “thermophilic yeast”—yeast that supposedly survives at high temperatures. At the State Research Institute of Bread they even conducted an experiment: they looked for yeast in baked goods. And they established: yeast does not survive in bread and cannot cause any diseases.

At the same time, a myth is spreading that sourdough bread is yeast-free. Although no yeast-free bread exists in nature, says director of bread production Yuri Mugandin. Any starter contains yeast.

Supporters of pseudo-healthy lifestyle also spread the myth that gluten, wheat protein, is a real evil. This is justified only for people with gluten intolerance (celiac disease), of which no more than 1–3% of the population is present. “There are much more people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease,” says Maria Kostyuchenko. And yes: gluten-free bread does not help you lose weight at all. By the way, the fashion for gluten-free diets began after the publication of the book “Food and the Brain” by one popular American nutritionist and was supported by a number of Hollywood stars. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow convinced her fans that her life was better without gluten. “In fact, gastrointestinal disorders are more often caused by oligosaccharides, not gluten,” says Maria Kostyuchenko. And recently, one doctor on the Russian federal channel agreed that you can get celiac disease by consuming bread.

Rumors about the high calorie content of wheat bread are also greatly exaggerated. In the hope of losing calories, many consumers choose more dietary rye bread, whose calorie content, meanwhile, is 320 kcal per 100 g versus 260 kcal per 100 g of wheat bread.

Well, even for some doctors, the fact that the glycemic index of white bread is lower than that of boiled carrots is a revelation.

Employees of the State Research Institute of Bread note with bewilderment that manufacturers are trying to attract the attention of buyers to their bread products, proving that their bread does not contain something: gluten preservatives, taste improvers, yeast, calories, etc. “It is often written that the product does not contain that , which simply cannot be in it, for example, “without GMOs,” although such products with GMOs simply do not exist,” adds Yuri Mugandin. — Chips today say “natural product without preservatives,” and honey says “no added sugar.” They write “0 calories” on confectionery products, although this does not happen. But the consumer chooses such products!”

“But mass-produced types of bread are presented as evil. They contain calories, yeast, gluten,” Kostyuchenko complains.

Scientists insist: bread is a traditionally important product that contains all the substances a person needs. An important feature of bread: it never becomes boring, its digestibility does not decrease. All baked goods contain healthy dietary fiber, most of them in rye and Borodino bread. Attention: there is more dietary fiber in a sliced ​​loaf than in an apple, carrot or cabbage! Vitamins B, E, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron – all this is also found in bread. Rye bread contains more iron than beef, eggs or apples, and it contains slightly less organic acids than sauerkraut. Bread is a source of selenium, a widespread deficiency of which is experienced by Russians. But fashionable gluten-free bread has virtually no vitamins and dietary fiber, and it needs to be fortified, bakers say.

Scientists have even developed a bread pyramid: the most useful, according to their data, is functional (enriched) rye bread, followed by wheat and sliced ​​loaves made from premium (not first!) grade flour. Nutritionists recommend eating baked goods 1-2 times a week. Scientists blame fashionable nutritionists, some baker-bloggers, the media, and retail chains for spreading myths.

“We need to create a positive image of bread and highlight its benefits on the label. Write that bread is not without something, but that it contains vitamins and dietary fiber,” according to the State Research Institute of Bread. “Bread carries a significant amount of vegetable protein and a large proportion of carbohydrates. Bread is the source of 34% of the calorie intake, more than 50% of carbohydrates, and 40% of protein. And this is a very significant contribution to the nutritional structure of the population. Bread is number one in ensuring the health of the nation,” says RAS academician, scientific director of the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology Viktor Tutelyan.

Manufacturers, meanwhile, state that today pseudo-healthy lifestyle is winning over healthy lifestyle. “The first problem with healthy lifestyle products: they are tasteless, pseudo healthy lifestyle always tastes better. Well, healthy products are 2-3 times more expensive, but the consumer will choose cheaper. Today the research institute has excellent developments of functional bread. Why aren’t such products available in kindergartens, schools, and hospitals?” – asks Yuri Mugandin.

Well, there is one more problem: the country does not have high-quality grain and normal flour. As Vladimir Martirosyan from the Research Institute of the Baking Industry said, today they are trying to force bakers to make tasty bread from low-quality grain. In 2018, the problem of bread quality reached the head of state, who ordered to increase the production of valuable wheat (1st, 2nd class) to 32 million tons by 2024. Today, the share of production of such wheat is 0.02–0.05% of the total volume. “This means she doesn’t exist,” Martirosyan clarifies. Even the share of low-quality 3rd class wheat decreased over the year from 33% to 27%. “We are monitoring wheat flour; it has reduced baking properties,” the expert admits. In a conversation with MK, this was confirmed by Doctor of Economic Sciences, former head of the Moscow Bakery Products Department, Evgeniy Strelkov: “There is practically no 1st and 2nd class wheat in production, you can forget about it, basically we have 3–4 wheat th class. Why? Agricultural technologies are not developed, there is no soil preparation system. 32 million tons by 2024 is fantastic. It’s the same as saying: tomorrow we will start growing bananas in the Moscow region.”

Therefore, finding high-quality bread in our country today is extremely difficult.