Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread

The European cultures eat so much bread, lots of fresh baked bread, but they don't have the same kinds of issues that we have in the United States. They don't have the same sensitivities to the breads. They don't have the same kind of metabolic issues, that's for sure. Their longevity is better, their BMI is better, their waist to hip ratio is better. Why is the bread different in Europe? Now, I can't speak specifically to why exactly the bread is different, but what we can compare here is fresh baked sourdough to regular bread that you might get in the United States. But even with the wheat that we have in the US, how you cook it, how you make bread from it could play a role. And there's some strong evidence with sourdough compared to other types of bread. Sourdough doesn't sound that bad. I mean, you're really just taking flour and water and letting it ferment. There are a lot worse things that you could be consuming, right? You could go to the grocery store and get hyper palatable stuff. A lot of times bread ends up in the crosshairs when in the grand scheme of things at a very simple like homemade level bread is quite simple and fairly benign unless you have a gluten issue. But from a glycemic perspective like sourdough impacts your blood sugar and insulin differently. There was a study published in grain and oil science and technology. Consumption of sourdough bread can decrease the glycemic and insulin responses after a meal. Essentially there are components of sourdough bread that impact how we metabolize it, how we digest it, and the effect that it has on our blood sugar and insulin levels. This was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. They had rodents consume multiple different kinds of bread. When they consumed the sourdough bread, they had significantly lower postprandial glucose and lower postprandial insulin. It's one thing to have an effect on your glucose levels. It's another thing when you actually affect how much insulin the pancreatic beta cells release. If they're able to get by with releasing less, This is huge because chronically high levels of insulin, that's a problem worldwide, not just in America. But now we can go back to the other review, that grain and oil science technology review, and try to understand some mechanisms here. Why is sourdough different? Why is bread in Europe different? The acidity that occurs as a result of good long duration fermentation, you're lowering the pH of the food. When you lower the pH of the food, you actually delay the digestion a little bit anyway. So this in and of itself is going to make it a better area under the curve with your glucose response. So as far as your blood sugar, your insulin, you're probably going to have an easier time simply because it's going to digest slower. But I think one of the bigger pieces is when something ferments, you have an increase in these organic acids, but this decreases or even inhibits sacrification. Now, sacrification is kind of a fancy way of saying, like, breakdown of carbohydrates in a way. By inhibiting sacrification, sourdough fermented foods may reduce the production of hyperglycemic reactive substances, thus lowering the glycemic index. You're having less of these substances that would trigger a high glycemic response. So by inhibiting sacrification, you're leaving them sort of bound together. You're not letting them... release. You're not letting these super high glycemic compounds release that would normally lead to like more glycation in the body and things like that. So you're quelling that and it's having less of a glycemic response. The other thing that we have to look at is type two fermentation, which is common with sourdough, especially in Europe. That's going to lead to more resistant starches. Resistant starches are literally resistant to digestion in our human body. When you have bacteria that are feeding on starches, you actually can end up with different structure altogether. So what started as a carbohydrate that would be digestible by humans becomes a resistant starch, which means it's not absorbed and utilized in our body. Instead, it's going through our digestive system and it's feeding the bacteria within our gut, becoming a resistant starch and actually being beneficial, almost in an insoluble fiber, prebiotic type way. It changes the structure and it makes it A, less glycemic, but B, also a more beneficial, practically a health food. And then of course, from a glycemic standpoint, you're fermenting a lot of the sugars just through the fermentation process alone. So the sugars that would normally cause some bloating and discomfort in a lot of people with breads, well, a lot of those get fermented and consumed by the bacteria in the first place. So you already have an end result being less sugar, but you also have sugars that might cause gastric discomfort. Now we're going to get into the gluten and the protein section here in just a second, because this is the big one. Okay, the gluten piece. There are people that can travel to Europe Gluten sensitivities consume gluten in Europe and have less of a problem. That is pretty wild. So we need to address what's potentially happening here, even in the United States, with sourdough. I would personally recommend that people just make their own sourdough when they can. There's just too much nefarious stuff out there, right? You can buy good sourdough bread in the refrigerated section that's like gluten-free and stuff too, but I recommend getting like a gluten-free sourdough starter and just making your own. That way you're making it from a rice flour, you're not having to deal with the wheat thing. There are good sourdough options. So what I usually recommend people do is, hey, if you're trying to add a little bit of sourdough in, start by making it yourself. Add little bits here and there. And if you want my honest opinion, I don't see a reason to have copious amounts of sourdough in your life. I think bread is a gateway for a lot of people. Like you can put down in the comment section, like what you think. I think bread can be a gateway where it's like, okay, I have a little bit. I felt okay. I don't want you to get into this world where now all of a sudden you feel like you have all kinds of bread and it's really hard to get it out of your life. I went ahead, I put a link down below for Thrive Market, which is an online membership-based grocery store. The reason I put a link for them there is they have a bunch of sourdough starter options. They do have some sourdough breads that are gluten-free as well. They have some good quality non-gluten-free options too, if that's more your cup of tea. But that is a 30% off discount link. So your entire first grocery cart order is 30% off and you get a free $60 gift when you use that special link down below in the description. Again, 30% off your entire first grocery order. It all gets shipped to your doorstep. Super easy from then on out. It's that link top line underneath this video. Okay. So fermenting the flour in the first place changes the structure of the proteins first and foremost. So it makes the proteins easier to digest. And the reason that does this is because once again, you're lowering the pH, increasing the acidity. This increases what are called proteases. These are enzymes that break down proteins. So that's why people at a very surface level bloating issue, they have issues breaking down the proteins. They have sourdough. They don't have much of an issue. And in Europe, they have a lot of problems. it's infinitely better. And I don't have all the answers there, but it seems like people can go there and not have any bloating at all. But there's also a study published in microorganisms that looks at this thing called protein stability. And they found that through the fermentation process, when there's multiple kind of species feeding, you have increased levels of certain ribosomal proteins. This changes what is called protein stability. So across the board, the protein levels are more stable and the proteins themselves at like a very minuscule level are more stable. It means they're higher quality. It means the body knows what to do with them better. And again, they are easily absorbed and easily utilized. But then we need to get into the gluten discussion because gluten and gliadin, these are proteins. They have these antibodies to specific proteins, okay? And this, you're typically gonna see it with alpha gliadin and gamma gliadin, right? So if they have these proteins come in from bread, the body sees them as an internal threat, starts having an antibody effect, like a response, and they can have a flare-up and be in a lot of discomfort. So there's celiac, which is the diagnosed issues, and then there's intolerances kind of at different stages up to that. So you may not have a full blown issue with it, but you might be like, I don't feel right when I have gluten. I feel like my body's fighting back a little bit. That is not uncommon, but I'm not a doctor, so I can't comment too far on that. What I can say is the fermentation process changes the surface structure of the alpha gliadin and the gamma gliadin. in the bread. This could make it so that it doesn't necessarily get as recognized in sort of the fluid space next to the stomach and next to the intestinal tract where it might get detected if it was in its normal form. Full disclaimer, I don't recommend if you have celiac that you go eat sourdough bread. Most people that have celiac would probably still have an issue and it doesn't take much to tip them over the edge, which is why they need things very squeaky clean and allergy friendly. But if you're someone that is gluten sensitive and you get bloated and you get like fatigued and lethargic and brain foggy, there's a good chance that sourdough won't have as much of a negative effect on you because the surface structure of those alpha and gamma-glian proteins is slightly different. When you ferment bread, you also increase phytases and you increase some of these other enzymes, which we'll talk about. Like phytases, for example, that's going to break down the phytic acid. That's going to make it so that the minerals and the vitamins that are in the bread can actually get out. They're not locked up and hard to digest. Phytic acid is not something I recommend having high amounts of, right? It kind of binds up things so they don't absorb or digest as well. Then you have xylanase. Xylanase breaks down the hemicellulose in cereal like cell walls. So we forget that cereal grains and grains and things like that in general, they have cells and these cells have rigid walls and like hemicellulose. Cellulose is hard for the body to break down and it's a fiber, it's a roughage and it's sort of a structure, right? Yeah. So when you have things like xylinase that can help break that down, it makes it so once again, it's easier to digest, right? And then finally, there's amylase. Amylase breaks down starches. So in essence, when you elevate these enzymes, breads that are sourdough fermented, they become highly easy to digest, which could be problematic for some people, right? Could increase absorption of those carbohydrates, which might lead to more area under the curve blood sugar if you eat a lot of it. But It's also going to be less reactive in the body and less potential bloating. So I hope that you gather the takeaway from this video not as go eat a bunch of sourdough, but if you're trying to introduce some sourdough, you can do so slowly. You probably have better luck in Europe doing it because of the type of wheat that's used. And fermentation in general is good. And the longer something is fermented, probably the more slack you're going to have. As always, keep it locked here on my channel. I'll see you tomorrow.

Why is the bread different in Europe? Now, I can't speak specifically to why exactly the bread is different, but what we can compare here is fresh baked sourdough to regular bread that you might get in the United States. But even with the wheat that we have in the US, how you cook it, how you make bread from it could play a role.

And there's some strong evidence with sourdough compared to other types of bread. Sourdough doesn't sound that bad. I mean, you're really just taking flour and water and letting it ferment.

There are a lot worse things that you could be consuming, right? You could go to the grocery store and get hyper palatable stuff. A lot of times bread ends up in the crosshairs when in the grand scheme of things at a very simple like homemade level bread is quite simple and fairly benign unless you have a gluten issue. But from a glycemic perspective like sourdough impacts your blood sugar and insulin differently.

There was a study published in grain and oil science and technology. Consumption of sourdough bread can decrease the glycemic and insulin responses after a meal. Essentially there are components of sourdough bread that impact how we metabolize it, how we digest it, and the effect that it has on our blood sugar and insulin levels. This was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. They had rodents consume multiple different kinds of bread.

When they consumed the sourdough bread, they had significantly lower postprandial glucose and lower postprandial insulin. It's one thing to have an effect on your glucose levels. It's another thing when you actually affect how much insulin the pancreatic beta cells release. If they're able to get by with releasing less, This is huge because chronically high levels of insulin, that's a problem worldwide, not just in America. But now we can go back to the other review, that grain and oil science technology review, and try to understand some mechanisms here.

Why is sourdough different? Why is bread in Europe different? The acidity that occurs as a result of good long duration fermentation, you're lowering the pH of the food.

When you lower the pH of the food, you actually delay the digestion a little bit anyway. So this in and of itself is going to make it a better area under the curve with your glucose response. So as far as your blood sugar, your insulin, you're probably going to have an easier time simply because it's going to digest slower.

But I think one of the bigger pieces is when something ferments, you have an increase in these organic acids, but this decreases or even inhibits sacrification. Now, sacrification is kind of a fancy way of saying, like, breakdown of carbohydrates in a way. By inhibiting sacrification, sourdough fermented foods may reduce the production of hyperglycemic reactive substances, thus lowering the glycemic index. You're having less of these substances that would trigger a high glycemic response.

So by inhibiting sacrification, you're leaving them sort of bound together. You're not letting them... release.

You're not letting these super high glycemic compounds release that would normally lead to like more glycation in the body and things like that. So you're quelling that and it's having less of a glycemic response. The other thing that we have to look at is type two fermentation, which is common with sourdough, especially in Europe.

That's going to lead to more resistant starches. Resistant starches are literally resistant to digestion in our human body. When you have bacteria that are feeding on starches, you actually can end up with different structure altogether. So what started as a carbohydrate that would be digestible by humans becomes a resistant starch, which means it's not absorbed and utilized in our body. Instead, it's going through our digestive system and it's feeding the bacteria within our gut, becoming a resistant starch and actually being beneficial, almost in an insoluble fiber, prebiotic type way.

It changes the structure and it makes it A, less glycemic, but B, also a more beneficial, practically a health food. And then of course, from a glycemic standpoint, you're fermenting a lot of the sugars just through the fermentation process alone. So the sugars that would normally cause some bloating and discomfort in a lot of people with breads, well, a lot of those get fermented and consumed by the bacteria in the first place.

So you already have an end result being less sugar, but you also have sugars that might cause gastric discomfort. Now we're going to get into the gluten and the protein section here in just a second, because this is the big one. Okay, the gluten piece. There are people that can travel to Europe Gluten sensitivities consume gluten in Europe and have less of a problem. That is pretty wild.

So we need to address what's potentially happening here, even in the United States, with sourdough. I would personally recommend that people just make their own sourdough when they can. There's just too much nefarious stuff out there, right?

You can buy good sourdough bread in the refrigerated section that's like gluten-free and stuff too, but I recommend getting like a gluten-free sourdough starter and just making your own. That way you're making it from a rice flour, you're not having to deal with the wheat thing. There are good sourdough options.

So what I usually recommend people do is, hey, if you're trying to add a little bit of sourdough in, start by making it yourself. Add little bits here and there. And if you want my honest opinion, I don't see a reason to have copious amounts of sourdough in your life. I think bread is a gateway for a lot of people. Like you can put down in the comment section, like what you think.

I think bread can be a gateway where it's like, okay, I have a little bit. I felt okay. I don't want you to get into this world where now all of a sudden you feel like you have all kinds of bread and it's really hard to get it out of your life.

I went ahead, I put a link down below for Thrive Market, which is an online membership-based grocery store. The reason I put a link for them there is they have a bunch of sourdough starter options. They do have some sourdough breads that are gluten-free as well.

They have some good quality non-gluten-free options too, if that's more your cup of tea. But that is a 30% off discount link. So your entire first grocery cart order is 30% off and you get a free $60 gift when you use that special link down below in the description. Again, 30% off your entire first grocery order.

It all gets shipped to your doorstep. Super easy from then on out. It's that link top line underneath this video.

Okay. So fermenting the flour in the first place changes the structure of the proteins first and foremost. So it makes the proteins easier to digest. And the reason that does this is because once again, you're lowering the pH, increasing the acidity.

This increases what are called proteases. These are enzymes that break down proteins. So that's why people at a very surface level bloating issue, they have issues breaking down the proteins. They have sourdough.

They don't have much of an issue. And in Europe, they have a lot of problems. it's infinitely better.

And I don't have all the answers there, but it seems like people can go there and not have any bloating at all. But there's also a study published in microorganisms that looks at this thing called protein stability. And they found that through the fermentation process, when there's multiple kind of species feeding, you have increased levels of certain ribosomal proteins.

This changes what is called protein stability. So across the board, the protein levels are more stable and the proteins themselves at like a very minuscule level are more stable. It means they're higher quality.

It means the body knows what to do with them better. And again, they are easily absorbed and easily utilized. But then we need to get into the gluten discussion because gluten and gliadin, these are proteins.

They have these antibodies to specific proteins, okay? And this, you're typically gonna see it with alpha gliadin and gamma gliadin, right? So if they have these proteins come in from bread, the body sees them as an internal threat, starts having an antibody effect, like a response, and they can have a flare-up and be in a lot of discomfort. So there's celiac, which is the diagnosed issues, and then there's intolerances kind of at different stages up to that. So you may not have a full blown issue with it, but you might be like, I don't feel right when I have gluten.

I feel like my body's fighting back a little bit. That is not uncommon, but I'm not a doctor, so I can't comment too far on that. What I can say is the fermentation process changes the surface structure of the alpha gliadin and the gamma gliadin.

in the bread. This could make it so that it doesn't necessarily get as recognized in sort of the fluid space next to the stomach and next to the intestinal tract where it might get detected if it was in its normal form. Full disclaimer, I don't recommend if you have celiac that you go eat sourdough bread. Most people that have celiac would probably still have an issue and it doesn't take much to tip them over the edge, which is why they need things very squeaky clean and allergy friendly.

But if you're someone that is gluten sensitive and you get bloated and you get like fatigued and lethargic and brain foggy, there's a good chance that sourdough won't have as much of a negative effect on you because the surface structure of those alpha and gamma-glian proteins is slightly different. When you ferment bread, you also increase phytases and you increase some of these other enzymes, which we'll talk about. Like phytases, for example, that's going to break down the phytic acid. That's going to make it so that the minerals and the vitamins that are in the bread can actually get out.

They're not locked up and hard to digest. Phytic acid is not something I recommend having high amounts of, right? It kind of binds up things so they don't absorb or digest as well.

Then you have xylanase. Xylanase breaks down the hemicellulose in cereal like cell walls. So we forget that cereal grains and grains and things like that in general, they have cells and these cells have rigid walls and like hemicellulose. Cellulose is hard for the body to break down and it's a fiber, it's a roughage and it's sort of a structure, right?

Yeah. So when you have things like xylinase that can help break that down, it makes it so once again, it's easier to digest, right? And then finally, there's amylase. Amylase breaks down starches.

So in essence, when you elevate these enzymes, breads that are sourdough fermented, they become highly easy to digest, which could be problematic for some people, right? Could increase absorption of those carbohydrates, which might lead to more area under the curve blood sugar if you eat a lot of it. But It's also going to be less reactive in the body and less potential bloating.

So I hope that you gather the takeaway from this video not as go eat a bunch of sourdough, but if you're trying to introduce some sourdough, you can do so slowly. You probably have better luck in Europe doing it because of the type of wheat that's used. And fermentation in general is good.

And the longer something is fermented, probably the more slack you're going to have. As always, keep it locked here on my channel. I'll see you tomorrow.

Transcript for:Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread

Transcript for:
Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread