The Bread Question

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 176, 22 April 1937, Page 13

The Bread Question

Sir,—Now that we have a Minister of Health who is energetic as well as able, I would ask him to instruct his department to prepare and publish forthwith a full report on the bread question. I have frequently seen it stated in the Press that wheat ground over the oldfashioned “stones” retains three or four essential vitamins in the flour, while wheat ground by machinery loses all traces of those vitamins. And in this connection, I would refer Mr. Fraser to an article that appeared in “The Dominion” on July 11, 1925, which can be seen at the two libraries and at “The Dominion” office, and should be on the department’s files. This article is mainly a reproduction of an article that had just appeared in the 'London “Spectator-,” and Mr. Fraser no doubt knows that that great paper does not publish articles on technical subjects from anyone who is not an acknowledged authority. For Mr. Fraser’s information and that of your readers, I feel that I must make one brief extract from it, as follows: — “Wholemeal bread is necessary for the physical well-bein'- of the race. The socalled wholemeal bread at present sold by the bakers is not germ bread at all, but white bread made with devitalised Hour to which has been added a certain amount of ‘offal’ or bran, almost worthless as food, and, withal, indigestible. “The true wholemeal or germ bread . . . can only be made from flour from which the vitamins have not been extracted bv over-milling. This flour, so vital to the stamina of our race, the elaborate roller mills are unable to produce. Only the old-fashioned ‘stones’ could produce it. . . . Consequently, when eating white brea ’ we are simply eating starch, and when eating the so-called wholemeal bread, as at present supplied, starch plus a little meal or bran.” I say nothing now about the economic side of the question, but may do so at a later date when the department’s report appears.—l am, etc., WHOLESOME BREAD. Wellington, April 21.