Maybe White Bread Isn't So Bad After All.

• Position: CARBOHYDRATES

Bread occupies a unique place in our diet, accounting for about 10% of the calories many people in the West consume and up to 40% of the caloric consumption in some non-Western countries--more than any other food product. In the past few decades, since white bread has acquired a bad name, bakeries have been going out of their way to produce high-quality whole-grain breads, but a study conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and published in Cell Metabolism reveals that these "wholesome" choices are not necessarily the healthiest for everyone.

Scientists compared two kinds of bread viewed as being on opposite ends of the health spectrum. One was industrial white bread made from refined wheat. The other was sourdough-leavened bread made in an artisanal bakery from freshly stone-milled whole grain wheat flour and baked in a stone hearth oven.

Study participants were divided into two groups and asked to consume large quantities of bread (supplying about one-quarter of their caloric intake) for a week. One group ate the white bread; the other, sourdough bread. After a two-week break, they switched, and for a week the group that had previously eaten white bread ate the sourdough bread, and vice versa.

Tests revealed that eating bread of any kind affected the blood levels of sugar...