Refined White Flour
Level 4 — Significant concerns
Refined White Flour is a other additive listed in the FDA food-additive database.
Also: enriched wheat flour, bleached flour, all-purpose flour, white flour
Where you'll see it
white bread, pasta, crackers, breakfast cereals, baked goods, pizza dough
What the research says
Milling separates the bran (fiber) and germ (vitamins, polyphenols, flavonoids, alpha-lipoic acid) from the endosperm (pure starch). The remaining starch is rapidly absorbed, spikes insulin, and feeds hepatic de novo lipogenesis. Loss of insoluble fiber prevents formation of the duodenal latticework that protects the liver, while loss of germ antioxidants leaves the liver vulnerable to oxidative stress.
[metabolical] Milling separates the bran (fiber) and germ (vitamins, polyphenols, flavonoids, alpha-lipoic acid) from the endosperm (pure starch). The remaining starch is rapidly absorbed, spikes insulin, and feeds hepatic de novo lipogenesis. Loss of insoluble fiber prevents formation of the duodenal latticework that protects the liver, while loss of germ antioxidants leaves the liver vulnerable to oxidative stress.
Regulatory status
- Notes: From enrichment source only, not in Winter Dictionary
Sources
- Metabolical (Lustig) — Chapter 19: the bread on the right has milled grain, and the starch and gluten are dissociated from the bran. It generates a rapid and high glucose and insulin response