Wheat & Digestibility

Baked goods are much better than their reputation

07-Sep-2020 - Germany

After two hours of dough rising, FODMAP elements, which can cause pain in some irritable bowel patients, are already greatly reduced.

Bread should be avoided because it can lead to flatulence and digestive problems - this is true, but only for a few patients with irritable bowel syndrome and only applies to baked goods that are produced very quickly. Recent investigations carried out by scientists at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart in cooperation with the baker Heiner Beck and Stelzenmühle show that even dough rise times of two hours seem to be sufficient to reduce the proportion of so-called FODMAPs in the dough by 70 percent. FODMAPs are special carbohydrates that can cause pain in irritable bowel patients. For this reason, affected persons often avoid wheat products. However, bread is one of the most important staple foods in Germany, and the new study findings support the view that avoiding bread because of FODMAPs is of little help - at least in the case of the many baked goods that were produced with a sufficient dough rest period of more than two hours.

In a very traditional way, dough is allowed to rest for up to 48 hours before being put in the oven as bread. "This preparation brings a particularly great deal of taste, aroma and juiciness to the bread and ensures that it remains fresh for longer," confirms baker Heiner Beck, who baked the breads for this study. However, such long rest periods are not realized in every bakery and with every product.

The baking trade and retail trade currently seem to be driven by the opinion that a high tolerance of bread can be achieved by particularly long dough guidance times without having to take a closer look at the production processes. Especially as people with irritable bowel syndrome also like to use breads made with this old baking technique, as there are almost no FODMAP elements left in the breads due to the very long fermentation time.

"This is certainly not wrong, but I can't confirm it in such a general way", says apl. Prof. Dr. Longin from the State Seed Breeding Institute at the University of Hohenheim. "As with many things, the solution lies in the details.

Together with nutritional physician Prof. Dr. Stephan C. Bischoff, he investigated different production processes and wheat varieties in a recent study. Specifically, the specialists were interested in the pain-causing carbohydrates in the bread, which cause flatulence and digestive problems in sufferers.

The

proportion of FODMAPs is reduced by up to 75 percent after only two hours of preparing the dough. Prof. Dr. Longin and Prof. Dr. Bischoff examined in detail the relationship between dough production and tolerance due to the proportion of FODMAPs in the bread. In doing so, they compared baked products with 21 different types of wheat from a long dough preparation of 25 hours, which is typical in everyday baking, with a much shorter preparation of 2 hours.

The results are clear: after only two hours, the proportions of pain-causing substances in the bread were reduced by up to 75 percent. In contrast, the values after 25 hours were only slightly lower.

"This is because the activity of the yeast has to be reduced by a reduced yeast quantity and cooling of the dough when the dough is made longer," explains apl. Prof. Dr. Longin. "Otherwise the gluten, which is important for baking, is damaged too much." And master baker Heiner Beck adds: "This has not been taken into account in previous scientific studies on FODMAP for baked goods. It was important to me that they worked with recipes that were relevant to practice."

Less black-and-white thinking would be more target-oriented

. Thus, FODMAP contents of 0.22 grams per 100 grams were measured on average, which corresponds to about three slices of bread. In comparison, a single peach contains up to 4 grams of FODMAPs.

"It is therefore questionable whether a FODMAP concentration in breads with these low values has a medical effect on patients, and if so, how many patients are actually affected," adds Prof. Dr. Bischoff from the Institute of Nutritional Medicine. "In healthy persons it is even true that parts of these FODMAPs, namely fructan, are important for the intestinal bacteria".

The Hohenheim experts regard the long dough run as very high quality. Other studies have clearly proven its positive effect on aroma, juiciness and availability of minerals. However, they believe that the general simplifying attitude towards FODMAPs in bakery products is one-sided and that the topic of FODMAPs in bakery products is partly overrated.

"In addition to the way the bread is made, the choice of the right type of wheat also has a major impact on the quality of the bread," emphasizes Hermann Gütler, miller at the Stelzenmühle. He ground the 21 different wheat varieties for the study and added: "We have known this for a long time for the baking properties and have now clearly shown it for the FODMAPs as well".

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.