What? Eating Bread Can Be Good for Your Heart?
Bread and Health
by Greg Marshall
We all know how satisfying it can be to mop up soup, stew or gravy with a healthy chunk of bread. Well, apparently the same effect, at least metaphorically speaking, takes place inside the body. According to a recent clinical study that was conducted at the University of Barcelona in Spain, daily consumption of bread can actually improve your lipid profile (cholesterol, fatty acids) and reduce your chances of developing heart disease or other problems with your blood vessels1.
Professor Raphael Llorach and colleagues investigated the effects of daily consumption of both white and wholemeal bread in 275 elderly volunteers who were considered to be at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (diseases of the heart and blood vessels). The results showed that those who ate bread daily had lower insulin levels and better lipid profiles compared with those who did not eat bread on a daily basis. The researchers stressed that daily, not sporadic, consumption of bread is necessary to achieve these results.
In more good news for bread lovers, Professor Llorach’s group did not find a correlation between daily consumption of bread and an increase in weight.
Too much of a good thing – bread and kidney cancer risk
While these are indeed happy findings, you should not lose sight of the side on which your bread is buttered. Apparently eating too much bread places you at risk of kidney cancer. Other bread-related findings indicate that people who eat a LOT of bread have an increased chance of developing kidney cancer as compared to people who eat only a little bread2. Between 1992 and 2004, scientists in Italy investigated the relationship between a wide range of foods and renal cell carcinoma in 767 patients with kidney cancer and 1,534 controls (patients admitted to the same hospitals for non-cancer conditions). A significant, direct risk was observed for bread, a modest risk was observed for rice and pasta, processed meat, milk and yogurt and no significant results at all for the majority of other dietary factors studied (coffee, tea, red meats, sugars and others).
Bread and depression
If the news that eating bread on a daily basis can reduce your risk of heart disease doesn’t cheer you up, try bread fortified with folic acid (aka folate), a member of the B complex of vitamins. Scientists in the United Kingdom have confirmed a relationship between folate deficiency and depression3. Owing to the importance of folate in preventing certain serious birth defects involving the nervous system, the Food Standards Agency in the UK recommended to health officials the compulsory addition of the vitamin to either flour or bread. This practice has already been implemented in Australia.
Bread and salt
As if the news that eating too much bread increases your risk for kidney cancer isn’t enough, scientists have to go and rub salt into the wound by reporting that Americans, at least, eat too much salt in their bread, not salty snacks4. This increases the risk of high blood pressure which, in turn, increases your chances of heart disease and stroke.
Just what is the right amount of bread in the diet?
Bread lovers should take heart in the news that a daily serving of bread is good for the cardiovascular system and learn cheerfully the news that bread fortified with folic acid may be a weapon in the battle against depression. However, as you may well know, man never did live by bread alone. Eating a varied diet can make sure you don’t eat too much bread and put yourself at risk of kidney cancer or high blood pressure.
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References
1 AlphaGalileo.org, “A study explains how bread consumption can improve cardiovascular health,” 2012.
2 Bravi F, et al, “Food groups and renal cell carcinoma: A case–control study from Italy.” International Journal of Cancer. 2006.
3 Gilbody S, et al, “Is low folate a risk factor for depression? A meta-analysis and exploration of heterogeneity.” The Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2007.
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Usual sodium intakes compared with current dietary guidelines—United States, 2005-2008.” 2011.
