Nutrients in Fresh Flour vs. Refined Flour
Refined flour reduces vitamins, minerals, and fiber by an average of 70-80%
When it comes to nutrition, refined flour does not even come close to fresh flour in many ways. It loses nutrients from the bran and germ being separated out, has additional toxins (i.e. chlorine, potassium bromine, iron, etc.) added back in, treated at a high temperature which deactivates enzymes, and then it oxidizes while sitting on the shelf.
There are 40/44 key essential nutrients in wheat!
Milling your own flour at a low temperature with the WonderMill retains the most amount of nutrients for the flour so your body can benefit. Refined flour's processing alone removes 20 of the key nutrients and only 5 are added back in synthetically (Source).
The Complete Book of Vitamins, says white flour reduces minerals, vitamins, and fiber by an average of 70-80%. This notable difference explains, at least in part, why Dr. Harvey Wiley (first head of what is now the FDA) tried to make white flour illegal. His intent was reportedly to use a 1906 Pure Food and Drug Law to classify refined and bleached flour products as "adulterated" foods; however, his efforts were stopped by powerful supporters of the flour processing industries. (source 1, 2).
Want to know what the 40/44 essential nutrients are? Here's just a few and look how different they are than commercial All-Purpose flour!
It probably goes without saying, but once the nutrients are removed or destroyed in processing you cannot benefit from them. So even if you sprout, sour, or something else your commercial flour....you cannot benefit from nutrients that are no longer present. There are very large reductions in fiber, protein, enzymes, and so many of the nutrients shown above.
One powerhouse nutrient found in the wheat germ is Vitamin E
Vitamin E is present in freshly milled flour and it has been said to support the body in fighting nearly every ailment/disease. As mentioned above, the Mayo Clinic, says it is important for "vision, reproduction, and the health of your blood, brain and skin". Further:
- Studies have shown that vitamin E increases the desirable HDL cholesterol in women, and in men if they had low levels initially (Guthrie,1989).
- Animal studies have shown that vitamin E protects against free radicals released by the body when it is exposed to toxic chemicals (Guthrie,1989).
- Vitamin E is used to treat intermittent claudication, which involves cramps in the calf muscles at night and extreme pain while walking (Guthrie,1989).
- Vitamin E may also be helpful for fibrocystic breast disease (Guthrie,1989).
Numerous other vitamins, enzymes, and minerals are found in wheat berries (see table above), though in smaller amounts. These include carotene, vitamin B6 (or pyridoxine), pantothenic acid, biotin, natural folate, and vitamin K. Other minerals include sodium, calcium, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper, cobalt, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, fluoride, boron, selenium, lead, aluminum, and silicon oxide (Souci, 1981). Of note, the body is capable of converting carotene, such as that found in wheat berries, to produce one sixth its amount vitamin A (Health ~ Welfare, 1990). (Source)
What are the 4 missing nutrients in wheat?
Out of the 44 nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc) that are known to be essential for life, the four that are not found in wheat are Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and the mineral iodine. Vitamin A is also too low but present in a small amount.
For high blood cholesterol and triglycerides, Gotto et al, 1984 recommends to increase carbohydrate consumption to make up 65% of total daily calories, emphasizing complex carbohydrates from natural sources (Gotto et al.,1984). Natural sources influence the absorption of fat-soluble substances from the digestive tract, and the reabsorption of bile acids (Hodges et al.,1985).
This is not medical advice, but this recommendation is for 65% of daily calories and from what we've seen this would likely be a maximum recommendation so you could look for other ways in your diet to find Iodine, vitamin C, vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A. The whole grains counsel recommends getting 3-5 servings PER DAY of whole grains.
Interested in reading more about the nutritional components of wheat? CLICK HERE
The Unsifted® Difference
We created high quality custom grain blends to provide exceptional flavor, nutritional diversity, and premium baking performance. Our Unsifted® Basic Blend is a high protein bread flour for soft, lofty breads, sourdough, pasta, pretzels and more. Our Unsifted® Dessert Blend is a mild low-protein blend for fluffy pancakes, cookies, cakes, biscuits and more!
Did you know that there are six different classes of wheat and across all six classes of where there are over 25,000 varieties of seeds? Each variety has a slightly different taste, moisture uptake, protein level, ash content and more.
Wondering why you should care about all that? Because it impacts how much liquid to put in your recipes, how lofty the bread will be and ultimately how it will taste.
This is why we curated two custom grain blends for exceptional flavor, nutritional diversity, and premium baking performance. Now you don't have to try a bunch of different types to find something your kids and husband will actually like. AND you don't have to guess on recipes.
With the Unsifted Blends AND recipes we tell you EXACTLY how much of the specific grain blend to mill. Plug and play. You literally don't have to learn ANYTHING about grains to successfully bake Unsifted®.
PS: There are no other grain blends currently being sold on the market and we know everyone doesn't have the time or interest to experiment with tons of different varieties to find a taste and texture their family will like....this is why we created our well loved grain blends.
Our Unsifted® Starter Kit has everything you need to easily mill and bake with fresh flour. We take all the guesswork out of this healthful (and delicious!) adventure to make whole grain baking fun and stress-free!
We designed the Starter Kit to make #modernmilling as easy as possible for our families and people we love to enjoy fresh flour baking, and we are thrilled to share it with you!
----------------------------------------------------------
Information published by Unsifted.com is no substitute for medical advice. For questions or concerns, please consult your health care provider for your own specific individual nutritional and medical needs. For more information, please visit our disclaimer page here.