For decades flour is and has been a main staple in many cultures around the world. Today however flour is being made from wheat that is being treated with pesticides and insecticides from seedling to storage. Back in 1910, bleached white flour had been declared as “unfit human food” from the Federal District Court of Missouri, yet no action was taken. Since then 60 additional chemicals have been approved to bleach flour, making it incredibly unhealthy and unsafe to consume.
1. No Nutrients
When bleaching flour, manufactures remove the wheat seed’s bran. The bran contains the 6 outer layers of the seed including the germ which contains 76% of the vitamins and minerals from the seed. Removing all Vitamin E, 50% of calcium, Vitamin B, etc.
2. Addition of Potassium Bromate
After manufactures remove all the nutrients, they then bleach the flour using chlorine dioxide. Adding chalk, alum and ammonium carbonate manufactures make the product feel and look more appealing to buyers. Potassium Bromate is found in flour and is used to strengthen the dough, all the while damaging the remaining cells. It was been banned in most developed countries including Canada & the UK, yet it is still used in the making of white flour in the United States.
3. Natural Insecticide
With the recent ways of manufacturing flour, any insects that force their way into a bag of white flour & begin to consume it, will die. White flour has actually become an insecticide, killing any insects that attempts to consume / live off it.
4. L-cysteine Present
L-cysterine is a non-essential amino acid. It is used to speed industrial processing of products like pizza doughs, cookies, pastas etc. In order to be used in any of these items, L-cysteine needs to be synthesized. This process should be completed in a lab, however it is cheaper to extract from duck feathers, human hair, chicken feathers and cow horns. To save money, many manufacturers extract this way and incorporate these items into white flour.
5. Contains Alloxan
Alloxan is an ingredient found in flour that makes breads look fresh, clean and ready to eat. However, there have been numerous studies completed that show alloxan destroying beta cells of the pancreas. This has caused the Textbook of Natural Medicine to refer to alloxan as “a potent beta – cell toxin”. Even though numerous studies have been completed to show the consequences of using alloxan, the FDA continues to allow manufactures the right to include this in foods that humans consume.
The next time you go to grab a bag of white flour, think twice. Educate yourself on the ingredients listed on the package and if you don’t know what something is, do some research before purchasing and consuming.