Health benefits of sourdough?
Q. I use homemade whole-grain sourdough daily. I am totally
convinced it has exceptional health benefits. But I can't find
nutritional info on it. It seems to me that it has to have probiotics,
for instance.
A. Sourdough starter does contain lactobacillus bacteria, often referred to as probiotics. It's the lactobacillus that give sourdough its characteristic sour flavor. But it's hard to say for sure which strains are present in a sourdough without laboratory analysis. The sourdough in my kitchen probably has different strains than the one in yours, for example. And different strains of lactobacillus offer varying health benefits, as discussed in this recent post on probiotics.
But whatever beneficial bacteria may be present in your sourdough starter, they will probably be destroyed by cooking. Most lactobacillus bacteria are only viable to about 112 degrees F. So while sourdough starter could be considered a probiotic food, sourdough bread would not.
Another potential health benefit of sourdough is that the bacteria partially "digest" some of the starches and sugars in the grains. As a result, sourdough bread appears to cause less of an increase in blood sugar than yeast breads. (Here's a link to the study.)
In terms of the relative nutritional value of sourdough, the biggest factor is probably whether it's made with refined or whole-grain flour. And, although whole-grain sourdough may be healthier than regular white bread, it is still basically bread. I wouldn't eat it in unlimited quantities!
For more on the science of sourdough, see this article.
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Posted by: Nick London | Nov 19, 2009 6:22:38 PM
Unfortunately it tastes terrible so I'll stick to wholemeal for now.
Posted by: Abe | Nov 16, 2009 5:07:25 PM
The word "probiotic" is a made up word to be used by nutritional supplement peddlers to add something positive-sounding to their marketing arsenal. It has no scientific basis. It is a take off from "antibiotic", which everybody knows is meant to neutralize some pathogenic microbes.
Having said that, I grew up in a culture, where yogurt (skim, plain variety) and drinks made out of it were prevalent and abundant, so I am well versed about the benefits of lactobacillus Bulgaricus and other useful flora for the human digestive system.
As a result even though I am lactose intolerant I can consume a good variety (or better yet home made) plain yogurt without any ill effect of lactose which already has been digested for me.
One of the ways to enhance flavor and nutritional value of your sour dough bread you may add some buttermilk in place of water (you may manufacture buttermilk by adding water to plain yogurt and shaking it a bit).
Buttermilk means different things to different people in this case it's fermented warm milk resulting yogurt.
Posted by: Dave | Nov 6, 2009 9:34:01 AM
One of the claimed benefits of slow-rise sourdough is that it has a lower lectin content than industrially produced bread. Don't know if anyone has actually measured that. There is some anecdotal evidence that populations eating unleavened bread have higher incidence of metabolic issues, particularly those involving mineral deficiencies, possibly because of higher phytate levels.
Posted by: Anna M | Nov 5, 2009 10:32:10 AM
Thanks for the link to science of sourdough - I'd been wondering the same thing about sourdough and probiotics. It does seem likely that the probiotics would be activated and destroyed during the cooking process, but there are plenty of foods such as kefir, yogurt, and kimche that are chock full of probiotics!
- Anna M, Content Writer, Nutri-Health
http://blog.nutri-health.com/
