WHOLEMEAL BREAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19177, 17 November 1925, Page 7

WHOLEMEAL BREAD.

Sir, —Mr. A. J. Parker, in his letter on the above subject, says "Flourmillers prefer to go on making white flour than to bother about wholemeal flour." In reply may I point out that wholemeal flour is simply ground, while the production of white flour requires elaborate and scientific machinery which is being perfected frequently at great expense to millers—no trouble or bother is too great if an improvement can be effected. Referring to the mineral matter in the bran your correspondent as an analyst should know that the mineral matter contained in the bran is not large but on the contrary very small indeed. Bran constitutes 4.2 per cent, of the wheat berry% 0.080 per ! cent, of which is mineral matter. Go further and take the germ 1.5 per cent, of the berry, 0.070 per cent, of which is mineral matter. Where is the "large percentage of'assorted minerals?" In the American Miller, Charles Christadoro, says there is mineral matter in the bran but not all the mineral matter of the wheat berry is left in the bran in the process of milling. Let us look at the comparative analysis made by Professor Langworthy of the United States Department of Agriculture. After carefully ing this table does not all the vaunted hvpersuporioritv of the wholemeal bread vanish into thin air when compared witn white bread: — Wholemeal Bread -Wafer ISA protein, 9 ' —Water '35.3. protein Fuel Value Calories per iioiwrteai bread 1140, white flour bread 1-15. In a mixed diet the matter at present in white bread ingested is m exP , nf the requirements of the system. an irritant for the intestines a sort of shavings and sawdust castor oil, bran • -ft times useful, otherwise it performs no usefuToffice A the dietary of man. Thi, subject has been discussed m Amo- • Europe many times and tho results have ahvays been the same as that of the conference we have any record of, held in Vienna, nearly fifty .c\<ra viz., the bran. IS an irritant, is indigestible, is indissoluble and useless to the human stomach. MnxEß .