Sourdough Wheat Bread?

[Mayflowers]

Hi I just read this on Dr. Mc Dougall's website in his 2005 newsletter on celiac.

*Lactobacilli bacteria are used to make sourdough bread, which will remove (hydrolyze) most of the gluten and make the wheat tolerable for most people with celiac disease.2

This info he provided was taken from a medical journal. What do you think about that? Safe Wheat?

[Guest nini]

Heck NO not safe... Don't believe the hype! Wheat is wheat is wheat is wheat...

[queenofhearts]

Sounds extremely fishy to me. What medical journal did that study?

Possibly this may be along the lines of spelt-- better for those with just a mild intolerance, but not safe for Celiacs.

Besides, don't lactobacilli act on lactose, not gluten? Scientists, what exactly does "hydrolyzed" mean? I thought hydrolyzed wheat protein was a no-no for us anyway-- am I wrong?

[chrissy]

i notice it says "most" and not "all" gluten, so how could it be safe?

[munchkinette]

I've heard this before too. I think it's one of those things that works in a lab but not in most practical situations.

Either way, it doesn't work if you also have allergies to wheat.

[Guhlia]

That's interesting. Not that I would ever eat "real" bread again, but sourdough used to be the only bread that I could stomach, even before my major symptoms set in.

[bluejeangirl]

When I was eating bread I would eat sour doughs because I couldn't tolerate yeasts. I would order bread from French Meadow bakery in Mn. They have a web. site Frenchmeadow.com. I copied what they had to say about sour dough. It is healhier.

Without the use of baker's yeast, dough may take eight or ten times as long to rise, but you might agree with us that the wait is worth it. Why, then, do we leave the yeast out of our bread? It is healthier - not only for the large number of people who are allergic to yeast, but for all of us. One significant health advantage to yeast-free bread is its value to digestion. While yeasted breads create, over time, an imbalance in our intestinal flora, yeast-free breads help to preserve that balance. And, as it contains strains of lactobacillus - an organism important for the proper digestion of complex carbohydrates - yeast-free bread is easier for our stomachs to break down and utilize.

If there are health benefits to yeast-free bread, then why not simply leave out the leavening process altogether? The answer is that the natural leavening process itself is beneficial for our bodies. Wheat grain contains phytic acid, a substance that has been linked to anemia, rickets, and nervous disorders. When bread is leavened naturally, 100% of the phytic acid is eliminated. If, on the other hand, bread is leavened with the help of baker's yeast, only 10% of the acid is removed.