Better or just as bad? -- question about grain

[kebaldwin]

In case you missed it --

[book]

the refining of flour removes the bran and germ layers, and in the process you lose a lot of the minerals and vitamins. Simply grinding them up finer should not lose the nutrients. I am unsure what effect it would have on the effectiveness of the fiber. I will be interested in what is said about all this as it comes out, but I don't think it will change my or my families eating habits much.

interesting...


book

[book]

I am also wondering about preservatives, when you take away the nutritious parts of the grain, the flour doesn't spoil as easily. (I guess germs are pickier than we are!) Leaving in the natural oils from the germ etc, I wonder what effect that has on the need for preservative... they might end up trading one bad for more of another bad....

book

[kebaldwin]

I think that what works for cows and pigs is similar to what happens to us. Talking to a farmer he remarked that soaking

[2big4mysize]

on the other hand breaking down that hard outer shell allows our bodies to absorb the nutrients we need from the food too. Take flax seed for example. whole no Omega 3s, ground the highest Omega 3 food known.

In a true nutritional label it would say the following nutrients are availible to you in this form but it doesn't. the assays are made in a lab and many nutrients listed on the label as being in the food is unavailible to us because our bodies can't extract it in that form. Just look at the UDSDA listing for oatmeal in all the various forms from whole oats to instant.
The same with cooking many vitamins and nutrients are better proceesed by our bodies adter the food has been cooked to allow us to access them.
I'm sure every one is familar with corn and how in order to get the nutrients out the natives proceeses it with lye to alter the corn but when the Spaniards took it back to Europe they didn't know this secret and it was missing a key vital nutrient in the cooked foods.