Rice Purity Test

 Wheat is the most widely consumed cereal in the US. and Europe today. More than a billion people use it as a staple in their diet and wheat production has almost doubled since the turn of the 20th century. In Britain, it provides 27% of our daily calorie intake.

History has seen it as an essential element to a nutritious diet, and towns grew up around its supply. It was first grown in the Middle East over ten thousand years ago and has since adapted to grow in almost any climate. However, the wholesome wheat products of ten thousand years ago differ greatly from the refined white flour of today.

The pale, fluffy, white cake-like bread so many of us eat, is a far cry from the heavy, wholesome, chewy whole grain bread that was once the staple diet.

In history, the purity of what you ate reflected your social standing, so of course clean, white, light, and refined was very much preferred to the heavy, wholesome, and chewy. To serve anything other than white bread on a ceremonial table was considered an   Rice Purity Test  insult. Even in the bible reference is made to the desirability of fine flour. So the wealthier classes would repeatedly sieve their flour and "whole" flour became a symbol of the lower classes.

With the rise of the industrial age, the flour was processed still further to remove the germ, as its oil content caused rancidity, and prevented storage and distribution. All that was left of our "wholesome" flour was pure starch, very manageable commercially as it is practically dead food.

Refined white flour is used in bread, biscuits, cakes, pastry, pasta, and cereals. So what is thrown away in the refining process?

The outer layer of the grain is the bran which contains a high proportion of B vitamins and about 50% of the mineral elements in the grain. The germ at the base of the grain is the actual embryo of the plant, rich in fats (mainly essential fatty acids), protein, iron, and vitamins E and B group. Also in the outer layer of cells called the aleurone layer, is the endosperm's protein. Between the germ and the endosperm is the scutellum, which is particularly rich in thiamine.

Like the sugar in fruit, most forms of starch come complete with the other nutrients which are needed to digest them. If we refine these foods, stripping away the necessary vitamins and minerals, we end up poisoning ourselves with toxic by-products of incomplete metabolism. In an attempt to digest this dead food, our body will use up vital reserves of vitamins and minerals. Time has also shown that the depletion of fiber in the diet as a result of refining has had an impact on man's intestinal function, low fiber is implicated with various conditions from hemorrhoids to cancer of the colon.

Out of five million tonnes of milled wheat, 1.4 million tonnes of bran, germ, aleurone layer, and scutellum are discarded. This is known as 70% extraction, meaning that only 70% of the grain is finally used. During world war two, food shortages meant that the extraction rate went up to 85%, and there were marked benefits to the nation's health. The reintroduction of flour with 95-100% extraction would do more for the health of this country's people than any other single measure in the field of nutrition. In our de-vitalized Western society, no one can afford to throw away nutrients in these quantities.