In a recent interview, food scientist Sue Becker uncovered the dark history of modern flour.
In a recent interview, food scientist Sue Becker uncovered the dark history of modern flour. She explained how industrial milling removed the bran, germ, fibre, vitamins, minerals and essential oils from wheat to create a softer, longer-lasting white flour – and how many of those valuable byproducts ended up in animal feed.
The interview explores the rise of “enriched” flour, bleaching agents, nutrient deficiencies, gluten intolerance, digestion, stomach acid, celiac disease and the difference between store-bought flour and bread made from freshly milled whole grains.
In 1992, Sue Becker started The Bread Beckers, a kitchen equipment and natural foods supplier in Cherokee County, Georgia, USA, which also offers nutritional education through classes, books and online resources.
At the end of July, she joined John Lovell on the War Poet Society podcast. During the interview, they discussed: what industrial milling removes from wheat; why white flour became food for the masses; how “enriched” flour got its name; why gluten may be taking the blame for a larger problem; the connection between fibre, digestion, cravings and energy; why bread carries such deep significance throughout Scripture; how to select wheat and begin milling flour at home and personal stories from people who changed the bread they ate.
“In 1900, we were considered one of the healthiest nations in the world. You can see it drop, drop, drop, drop to now, we’re one of the sickest nations in the world,” she said.
“I learned [that] most of the common diseases that plague Americans are directly related to commercially processed food, particularly our bread … It’s not gluten. It’s the processed white flour.”
All the healthy stuff has been filtered out of the white flour. “Vitamins, minerals, and then most importantly the fibre,” she said.
“They’re essential nutrients that your body needs for life. Take away all the fibre, all the vitamins, all the minerals. Feed everybody this food. Three diseases became epidemic around 1900: Beriberi … a vitamin B1 deficiency, Pellagra … a vitamin B3 [niacin] deficiency, [and] iron-deficient anaemia.”
Speaking about Pellagra, Becker said that one of the symptoms is Dementia, “mental insanity so severe that the people had to be institutionalised.” Other disease-specific symptoms include skin sores, dysentery and death.
The first case of Pellagra in the United States was documented in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1902. 30,000 cases of Pellagra were diagnosed in America that first year, Becker said. “At first, they thought it was an infectious disease till they traced it to vitamin B3 deficiency.”
We have embedded the video below to begin where Becker speaks about the three epidemics caused by bread made from flour which is lacking nutrients.
Warrior Poet Society: The Bread Conspiracy Nobody Talks About. | Sue Becker on The John Lovell Show (72 mins)
