Go Yeast, Young Man

The White Bread Stigma May Be Toast.

- Jessica Wapner

FOR MANY health-conscious people, bread is a little slice of hell. Burgeoning shelves of multigrain loaves—or friends passing around sourdough starters and attaching the word artisanal to the ancient combination of yeast, flour and water—have led consumers to believe whole grain bread is healthier than industrial white bread. That trend has made for a lot of expensive sandwiches.

Fortunately, a new study by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science is here to cut through the confusion. In the study, published in Cell Metabolism, researchers randomized 20 participants to consume either processed white bread or artisanal whole wheat sourdough in order to compare the effects of each on the body. The study was conducted in Israel, so the researchers used the Israeli equivalent of Wonder Bread. The whole grain group was given artisanal bread from a local bakery.