Whole wheat bread or white bread? A recent study carried out by the University of Navarra (Spain) makes it clear if we want to take care of our health: white bread helps increase the risk of obesity . This is one of the few studies that have specifically addressed the relationship between bread and obesity.
For the work, the researchers followed 9,267 college graduates from the SUN project (which started in 1999) over a period of about five years . Throughout the study, the participants completed questionnaires on eating habits every two years in which the frequency of ingestion of the different foods was specified.
The results showed that the consumption of white bread was directly associated with an increased risk of both overweight and obesity; that is, specifically eating two servings or more of white bread a day increased the risk of being overweight or obese by 40% . On the other hand, the participants who had consumed white bread and whole wheat bread alike had little change in their weight. Thus, consuming white bread once a week did not have a significant weight-related result.
"The nature of carbohydrates, the content of fiber and other micronutrients in whole wheat bread and the slower absorption of carbohydrates may explain the lack of association between the consumption of this and obesity, " say the study authors, integrated at the Center for Biomedical Research Network of the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBER-OBN).
