Sourdough Bread Has Most Health Benefits

Even though it’s made from white flour, sourdough bread has a relatively mild effect on blood sugar compared to other white breads. Sourdough is an ancient bread with thousands of years of bread-making history behind it. It has a distinctive taste, the result of lactic acid produced by bacteria used to ferment the dough. A sourdough “starter” is made from a combination of yeast and bacteria growing in a paste of flour and water. Some is used for making a loaf, and the rest is saved to grow and use for future baking.

"Not all bread is created equal. The type of toast you eat for breakfast can affect how your body responds to lunch", a University of Guelph researcher has discovered.

Prof. Terry Graham studied four types of breads to determine which had the most positive health effects when it comes to carbohydrate metabolism, blood sugar and insulin levels.

"There's an urban myth that if you want to lose weight, you shouldn't eat bread," said the human health and nutritional sciences professor. "But the truth is, bread is one of our biggest sources of grains and has a number of healthy benefits."

"With this study we wanted to find out which breads are better so that we can optimize the benefits by combining them into one type of bread."
Graham and a team of researchers examined how contestants responded just hours after eating the bread for breakfast and again just hours after eating a standard lunch.
"With the sourdough, the subjects' blood sugar levels were lower for a similar rise in blood insulin," said Graham, whose findings are to be published in the British Journal of Nutrition. "What was even more interesting was that this positive effect remained during their second meal and lasted even hours after. This shows that what you have for breakfast influences how your body will respond to lunch."

Visit Erich's Backstube right next to the sausage kiosk (Wuerstelstand) and give it a try. You'll be surprised how delicious sourdough bread is!

It's tasty, it's moist and so much healthier than all these white breads you get in town.