The refined flour It is present in a large number of foods, mainly in all those that contain carbohydrates: for every 100 grams of flour, 70 are carbohydrates. For instance: omelettes, sandwiches, pizzas.
Wheat is the cereal that most adequately allows the formation of gluten, the pasta made up of the mixture of the glutelin and gliadin proteins together with the water. This gluten has plasticity and elasticity, which is what allows the pasta to be shaped in different ways and, by the same action, let the yeast act on it, causing it to swell, absorbing steam and water.
The discovery of the yeast added great flavor to most carbohydrate-rich foods, exploiting the use of refined flour.
What are flours?
Flours are usually present in a large number of foods that we usually eat. For a few generations, humans have been used to consuming wheat cereal, cultivating it and incorporating it into the usual preparations that man has to eat.
However the flour consumption it is subject to being previously ground and transformed, precisely forming wheat flour.
The typical treatment of this flour is known as refined, and thus resists the passage of time by separating from lipids that degrade over time. It is the flour known as ‘white flour’.
Benefits and Harms of flour
One of the benefits of flour is the amount of minerals containing, such as iron, calcium, potassium, iodine or zinc. In the same way, it incorporates different types of vitamin B and E, as well as fats and sugars.
However, it is common for many professionals to disagree with the way in which flour is refined, believing that the most nutritious parts of the wheat grain (the bran and the germ) are removed precisely in this process.
Thus, refined flour becomes practically pure starch, and has a very low amount of fiber, vitamins and minerals.
In this sense, flour begins to function in the body very similar to that of sugar, becoming rich and addictive but very harmful. Glucose and insulin levels in the blood can be destabilized by excessive consumption of refined flour eventually triggering problems such as diabetes and obesity.
On the other hand, and no less important, we find the substance that is responsible for giving refined flour its white color: alloxane. Many experts believe that it is a particularly harmful substance for the human body.
Examples of refined flours (food)
The following list shows some examples of foods in which it is very common to see refined flours.
- Sweet cookie packages
- Tortillas
- Sandwiches
- Pizzas
- Pasta
- Desserts
- Cakes
- Common sweet bread
- White bread
- All foods that are produced from buns