Don’t Get Fooled Again #6 – Whole wheat bread is healthier than white – The Best Triathlon Training Plans | Mountain Bike Training Plans | Cycling Training Plans | Marathon Training Plans

This is our sixth installment in the Don’t Get Fooled Again series. Today, it’s bread. Here is the statement:

Whole wheat bread is healthier than white bread. (True or False?)

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If you are like me, my knee-jerk answer would be “True!” After all, that’s what we’ve been told. The foundation of “healthier” was that whole wheat bread contains more fiber and has a lower glycemic index (doesn’t raise insulin as much or as fast) than white bread. In fact, white bread is one of the baseline foods to measure how much any particular food raises insulin. But…not so fast…

In a recent study, researchers did a randomized trial using 20 subjects. Half of them consumed processed, packaged white bread and the other half consumed whole-wheat sourdough bread baked especially for participants. Then the groups went without bread for two weeks and switched the type of bread they consumed.

Researchers measured wakeup glucose levels; fat and cholesterol levels; kidney and liver enzymes; minerals calcium, iron and magnesium; and several markers for inflammation and tissue damage. Additionally, they measured gut bacteria (microbiomes) before, during and after the study.

Here’s what the researchers had to say:
"The initial finding, and this was very much contrary to our expectation, was that there were no clinically significant differences between the effects of these two types of bread on any of the parameters that we measured," says Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and one of the study's senior authors. "We looked at a number of markers, and there was no measurable difference in the effect that this type of dietary intervention had."

This is the second study, that I’m aware of, showing different people have different glycemic responses to the same foods. The other study was much larger, with 800 participants.

So the answer, contrary to what I would have said just a few weeks ago, is False.

What does this mean to you? Throw your hands up and eat “whatever?” No.

Take note of how foods make you feel and keep track of your bloodwork with your health care provider. As often as possible, eat foods that are high quality (packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals) per calorie consumed. Make these foods natural as often as possible – that is, not processed with chemical vitamins and minerals added.

Be sure to see if I have an easy-to-use training plan for you on my site to help you reach your goals. And, there are more options on the TrainingPeaks site.

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