Irritable bowels Grandma's bread making techniques could reduce suffering

Bloating by non-digestible sugars can be reduced by prolonged walking time on the dough. This was shown by a recent study by the University of Hohenheim.

12 percent of Germans suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. Wheat products such as bread cause severe flatulence among others. triggered by special sugars, the so-called FODMAPs. These are essentially low molecular weight sugars that are stored in wheat grain. On the other hand, if they eat bread from the original grains, einkorn, emmer, spelled and durum, irritable bowel patients agree that they feel better. A research team from the University of Hohenheim has now found out what makes bread from ancient grains digestible and how much of this special sugar is contained in it. The big surprise: ancient crop contains hardly any FODMAPs than bread wheat. It depends on how the dough is prepared from the grain.

Baking bread as before prevents bloating and stomach ache. Image: Artem Shadrin - fotolia

Analysis method determines sugar content in cereal flours
The Hohenheim researchers wanted to find out how many FODMAPs contain the different cereals. They determined in a complex (so-called chromatographic) analysis method, the proportions of low molecular weight sugars in the respective wholemeal flours.

The surprising result: einkorn contains even more FODMAPs than bread wheat. In Emmer, Dinkel and Durum, although they are present in lesser amounts, but not to the extent that this can be explained by the relief reported by many irritable bowel patients.

Analysis of dough preparation - longer walking time reduces FODMAPs
Since apparently the basic ingredients of the cereal flours do not determine the FODMAPs contents in the baked goods, the researchers examined the dough preparation in the next step. They analyzed batters prepared from the cereal flours after one, two, four, and four and a half hours of walking.

The highest levels of FODMAPs were found in the doughs of all cereal crops after one hour, in the original grain crops of Emmer and Dinkel less than in bread wheat, but even more so there than at the beginning of the dough preparation. After four and a half hours, even the dough made from bread wheat contained only 10 percent of the low molecular weight sugars. The cereals themselves are therefore not crucial, but especially the type of dough preparation. (Aid)

Source:
Ziegler, J.U., Steiner, D., Longin C.F.H., Würschum, T., Schweiggert R.M., Carle, R. (2016): Wheat and the irritable bowel syndrome - FODMAP levels of modern and ancient species and their retention during bread making; in: "Journal of Functional Foods" 25 (2016), 257-266, doi: 10.1016 / j.jff.2016.05.019.