Credits: Social Media
Freezing bread before toasting makes it healthier, doctor says
Bread comes in all shapes and sizes, running the gamut from preservative-packed fabrications to slabs of Einkorn wholesomeness. Instagram doc and meal planner Dr Chintal Patel reckons most of us have been eating our bread in a way that prevents us from getting the most out of it, nutritionally.
Heres why you should consider freezing your bread, she says, before going on to talk about starches, molecular structure, and the glycemic index of the bread. She makes some pretty bold claims, so we here at The Focus put our thinking caps on and decided to see if her statements stack up against the science.
Doctor says we should be freezing our bread overnight to make it healthier
Freezing your bread overnight and then reheating or toasting [it] changes the molecular structure of the starch in the bread to a more resistant starch, Dr Patel says in her video.
Shes an NHS doctor and regularly posts recipes and meal plans to her 150,000 Instagram followers.
This is the type of starch that feeds your gut bacteria and helps you build a healthy gut microbiome. This also reduces the glycemic index of the bread.
Understandably, some of her followers have requested she share the academic research that underpins the claims she makes in the video. A brief explainer of what changes freezing makes to breads molecular structure, and what having a lower glycemic index actually means for peoples health, may also be useful. That’s where we come in!
- BREADY FOR MORE?: Food vlogger weighs in on bread storage debate
Slicing through the jargon
In 2008, researchers in England ran a study to assess the impact of freezing and toasting on the glycemic response of white bread.
The glycemic response to a food is the effect that food has on blood sugar (glucose) levels after eating it. Generally, eating food causes a rise in blood sugar levels. White bread triggers among the highest glycemic responses of all foods, comparable with pure glucose. So if minimizing glycemic response is a priority, the most obvious piece of bread-eating advice is to cut out white bread completely. Sourdough is better, though.�
However, the study supports Dr Patels claim that freezing and thawing, or toasting, bread reduces its glycemic index or the glycemic response it triggers in the human body.
The researchers tested three procedures: freezing and defrosting, toasting from fresh, and toasting following freezing and defrosting. All three favorably altered the glucose response of the breads.
Does freezing bread change its molecular structure and increase the amount of resistant starch?
Firstly, what is resistant starch? According to Healthline, its a carbohydrate that is also considered a type of fiber. Eating more of it can be beneficial for the bacteria in your intestines and in your cells.
Usually, the body breaks down starches into glucose and absorbs the glucose. Resistant starch gets its name because it resists digestion. This makes it pass further through the body. When it gets to the large intestine, bacteria break it down and use it as fuel.
Good sources of resistant starch include legumes, cashews, oats, potatoes, and green bananas.
One type of resistant starch forms when foods cool down after cooking, in a process called starch retrogradation. Starches lose their original structure during cooking and then reform into new, resistant structures during cooling.
Healthline highlights research that shows how resistant starch remains higher after reheating foods that have previously been cooled, which supports Dr Patels claim that freezing, and then toasting, your bread can indeed bring health benefits.
- BREADY STEADY GO: If bread gives you gas, try these alternatives
