Europe's bread revolution
Bread is an integral part of European diets, but the nutritional content of white bread leaves much to be desired. Nutritional guidelines recommend consumption of wholemeal bread with its high levels of cereal fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. However, most Europeans prefer the mild taste and crispy crusts of white bread. The EU-funded HealthBread (HealthBread product innovation based on FP6 HealthGrain results and knowledge) project developed bread with the mild taste of white bread yet with high levels of wheat-based fibre and nutrients. The project translated ideas generated in a previous EU project called HealthGrain into practice by producing bread with health benefits beyond those of wholemeal bread. More specifically, HealthBread developed and applied advanced milling technologies for obtaining wheat fractions with high levels of beneficial nutrients and mild taste. It also adopted bioprocessing – i.e. advanced fermentation of these fractions – to achieve additional nutritional benefits. This increased free ferulic acid – a key antioxidant in wheat – by 200 %, and also afforded a 50 % increase in bioavailability of minerals such as zinc, iron and magnesium. The HealthBread production concept has enabled bakeries to produce bread products with high, consistent levels of cereal fibre and a range of micronutrients, and with fewer fluctuations than in wholemeal bread. Bioprocessing has also added more nutritional benefits. Indeed, several bakeries and stakeholders have already begun producing a HealthBread product to enhance business profitability, with more interest expected in EU countries such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and beyond. For technological and nutritional guidance of bakeries all over Europe, the project team produced the HealthBread Bakers Manual in Dutch, English, German and Italian. This guideline document includes an overview of possible nutrition and health statements in line with European and national regulations. Armed with a range of options to develop high-quality bread without non-wheat additives, HealthBread disseminated its findings through different media. Results have been published in international cereal and bakery journals, paving the way for further exploitation of new recipes and techniques. These have already begun making bread consumed in Europe much healthier and more nutritious.
Keywords
Bread, milling, bioprocessing, wholemeal, nutritional, HealthBread, wheat
