Although it’s long been a staple of the Irish diet, be it traditional soda bread or family favourite sliced pan, in an age of fitness fads and clean-eating extremes, bread has become a bit of a no-go area for some. Big mistake.
General Practitioner Dr Ciara Kelly is coming out swinging in the bread corner, bringing out the big guns when it comes to stats on the benefits of bread in a healthy diet.
Ciara says: “Bread has an unfair and undeserved reputation as being a not entirely healthy food, in fact, it is low in fat, low in sugar, a good source of energy and most importantly provides a host of nutrients.”
She throws out a few impressive stats on the nutritional values of bread:
- Bread is low in fat and sugar – only 1% of the fat content of the Irish diet comes from both brown and white bread
- Bread provides as much as 10% of our daily intake of protein and folic acid
- Bread contains a host of nutrients; we get more iron from bread than meat or fish dishes
- White bread is the second highest contributor to the calcium intake of the Irish population
So where have all our misgivings about bread come from?
“These days we are subjected to a lot of nutri-babble," Dr Ciara says.
“Fads and fashion are dictating diets, people are following trends they see on the internet which have little or no scientific basis.”
Trends like orthorexia which sees an obsession with clean eating leading to a dangerously restricted diet or ‘cyberchondria’ where reading about internet illnesses and dubious health advice adversely influence our behaviour.
Dr Ciara appeared on RTÉ’s Today show yesterday and said “It’s definitely affecting people’s eating habits – especially for younger people, male and female, but girls in particular are potentially risking their health by embarking on restrictive diets, which can encourage the onset of eating disorders. This trend for cutting out entire food groups is a potentially damaging one, and is the opposite of what will do you most good, which is having a varied diet with everything in moderation.”
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She warns: “Purging any food group from your diet is not a good idea and carbs have been unfairly targeted. Bread and dairy are the main food groups which people are wary of these days but cutting these can have a detrimental effect - young girls are ending up with osteoporosis as the lack of calcium can be very bad for bone health and development.”
The doctor suggests that if you are worried that any food doesn’t suit you, it’s best to speak to a GP or dietician before changing your diet.
One thing people often associate with bread is bloating but this is another unfortunate myth, according to Dr Ciara. She says: “Many people blame problems with bloating on bread but it’s actually other foods that can cause fermentation in the stomach such as onions, apples, beans and pulses. There is no evidence that bread causes bloating.”
“Trends come and go, fashions rise and fade but bread remains a staple with good reason,” says Ciara.
At the end of the day, bread is still the ultimate convenience food. “Bread is convenient, versatile and tasty, from toast through to sandwiches, through to pudding.”
For more on the benefits of bread and some great bread recipes, see National Bread Week’s website: www.NationalBreadWeek.ie #LoveYourLoaf
