Page 12 - Winter2008

Caustic Commentary

has led to some contradictory and even ridiculous statements levels to spike, with high levels lasting until well after lunch.
by researchers. According to Neil Binkley, an associate pro- According to Professor Terry Graham, head researcher on
fessor of geriatrics and endocrinology at the University of the project, the fermentation of the sourdough “changes the
Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, “We were nature of starches in the bread, creating a more beneficial
never supposed to eat our vitamin D.” How people living in bread.” The research team is now looking into the effects of
places like Wisconsin got their vitamin D during the winter sourdough fermentation on whole wheat bread (The Canadian
months before the advent of vitamin D pills is not explained. Press, July 7, 2008). What these preliminary results tell us is
Vitamin D pills are the chopped-logical choice in today’s that consumption of improperly prepared whole grains puts
climate of confinement agriculture, animal fat avoidance and the body under stress, as witnessed by the unhealthy increase
sun phobia. The AAP spent a large part of its recent position in blood sugar levels.
paper warning mothers to keep their infants and young chil-
dren totally out of the sunshine; heliophobia has led to the . . . WITH BUTTER
widespread practice of putting sun screen on children who Butter is bad for us, we’ve been told—over and over again—
will spend the day fully clothed, “just in case” a noxious ray because butter contains saturated fat and saturated fat raises
of sunlight should touch their skin. “bad” cholesterol and makes us gain weight. Yet in a recent
trial carried out in Israel, described as “arguably the best such
SWEET SOURDOUGH BREAD. . . trial ever done and the most rigorous,” researchers found that
A key component of our mission at the Weston A. Price a low-carbohydrate diet high in saturated fat resulted in the
Foundation is to report on the greatest weight loss and the most
scientific validation of traditional desirable lipid profiles. The trial
food ways. Recent research on compared three diets: a restricted-
bread, soon to be published in the calorie American Heart Asso-
British Journal of Nutrition, has ciation (AHA) diet with about 30
given us a wonderful validation percent of calories from fat, with
of the benefits of traditional sour- less than 10 percent of calories as
dough bread-making techniques. saturated fat; a restricted-calorie
Using white, whole wheat, whole Mediterranean diet, high in dietary
wheat with barley and sourdough fiber and monounsaturated fat; and
white breads, researchers at the a low-carbohydrate diet, described
University of Guelph examined as “high in saturated fat,” contain-
how subjects responded after ing about 40 percent of calories
eating bread for breakfast and with 12.5 percent as saturated
again after lunch. The ten male fat. Calories were not restricted
subjects, who were overweight in the low-carbohydrate diet, yet
and ranged between fifty and after two years, this group had lost
sixty years old, showed the most positive body responses the most weight—10 pounds versus six in the low-fat diet.
after eating sourdough white bread. With the sourdough, the LDL-cholesterol reduction was best with the Mediterranean
subjects’ blood sugar levels were lower for a similar rise in diet while those on the supposedly heart-healthy AHA-recom-
blood insulin, and this positive effect remained during the mended diet saw no reduction in LDL-cholesterol. Those on
second meal and lasted hours after. Surprisingly, the worst the low-carbohydrate diet had moderate reduction of LDL-
results were seen after consumption of whole wheat and cholesterol, but the best results for the ratio of total cholesterol
whole wheat with barley bread, which caused blood sugar to HDL-cholesterol occurred with the low-carb dieters, who
12 Wise Traditions WINTER 2008