BREAD.—An article of food which may well be designated as the staff of life. The important position accorded to this substance is well merited, for it contains the most important elements of nutrition required by the body, namely proteids and carbohydrates ; it furnishes in abundance the salts which are necessary for the building up of the body and for the main tenance of good health ; and in many instances it serves as a means of rendering other nutrient substances available or palatable. The carbo hydrates predominate in bread, while meat. on the other hand, is the type of an albuminoid food. The mimic common varieties of bread are composed of the following constituents : The amount of fat in bread varies widely according to the richness in cream of the milk used or the amount of lard or butter incorporated. Breads made from bolted wheat (white flour), from entire wheat, or from whole kernel (Graham flour) will also vary in their percentage of proteids and other ingredients. Thus, chemical analyses show the general differences in these flours as follows : Bread which has been prepared with milk contains a much larger pro portion of proteid materials. This is true not only on account of the flour, hut also because the milk employed constitutes an important factor in supply ing food-elements. .1mong the breads prepared with flour and water only, the variety known as Graham bread contains the largest quantity of proteids, because, in addition to the flour, there is a considerable amount of gluten present, which contains the greater part of the proteids of the grain. These are more or less concentrated in the outer coverings, which are discarded in the ordinary processes of milling white flour ; and the more starchy elements. situated in the centre of the grain, predominate in the flour. .1 comparison made between the chemical composition of the different varieties of bread and the various kinds of flour shows how great the loss of proteids may he when the gluten is not employed.
Bearing in mind the great nutritive value of the proteids, it would seem a very wasteful procedure to discard the gluten in baking ; the digestive processes, however, not only excuse this waste, but as a matter of fact demand it. For to many people the outer coverings of the grain act as an irritant to the intestines ; and, although these special breads may serve as dietetic agents and gentle laxatives, they do not necessarily aid the digestion, but may produce disturbances of this function, particularly in susceptible individuals. The irritation set up in the intestines does not permit the
ingested food-material to remain in the gut sufficiently long to become fully absorbed, so that it may be quite fairly stated that gluten-bread represents a very wasteful article of food, and that the finer varieties of bread must be looked upon as more suitable nutriment. So long as no process has been discovered by which the gluten may be separated from the outer shell of the grain in making flour, it is considered wiser by some to employ it as fodder for animals, where a suitable mode of digestion is provided for this purpose, rather than to incorporate it into bread in the belief that it increases its nutrient value.
The great differences in the percentages of nutrient substances in the various grains and their products when made into bread is due not only to the loss of proteids in the gluten, but is largely brought about by falsely conceived methods of baking. Bread must be light in order that it may be properly attacked by the digestive juices. By the aid of fermentation the starch-cells are ruptured, and may thus be more readily acted upon. When this is accomplished by the addition of leaven, the process consumes about 20 per cent. of the nutritive value of the bread—a very considerable loss. It is essential, therefore, that the ordinary methods of baking be abandoned and that Liebig's principle be more fully recognised, which prescribes, instead of leaven, a baking-powder mixture of an alkaline carbonate and an acid. In the baking of cake and pastry this recommendation has long been followed, and, in addition to the use of yeast for this purpose, there are now a number of very efficient baking-powders on the market. As the dough rises, it may result in the formation of scattered areas in which no fermentation has taken place, and which prove an obstacle to digestion. These should not be eaten ; nor is it advisable to eat much hot bread, for the latter undergoes further fermentation in the stomach, and may cause a great deal of distress. Persistent eating of hot bread and biscuits may even lead to gastric catarrh.