If you have ever eaten packaged, store-bought bread then you have likely eaten some ingredients that are banned in most countries. Sure, we have all heard of high fructose corn syrup in bread and its risks but what about chicken feathers?! Obviously “chicken feathers” will never be on an ingredients label, so let’s see how the bread companies are hiding this “natural” ingredient and dangerous others.

Why is Whole Wheat Bread Bad For You? The Shocking Truth

L-cysteine is a softening agent that is added to speed up the processing of baked goods. Sometimes this agent is lab created but most often it actually comes from cow horns, human hair, and chicken feathers that has been dissolved in acid to isolate L-cysteine and then it’s added to baked goods. 

Potassium bromate strengths dough and lessens the amount of time required to bake the dough. In South Korea, China, Brazil, Peru and European Union, potassium bromate is banned because it has been linked to kidney and thyroid cancer. 

Azodicarbonamide enhances the soft texture of bread but is shown to interfere with respiratory health, causing asthma and allergic reactions in some people.

High Fructose Corn Syrup helps dough rise and adds color to the bread but it has been associated with hypertension, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and the obesity epidemic.

Refined grains. White bread is made with refined wheat flour, which means the wheat and grains have been milled to remove the bran, germ and endosperm. Which also means the benefits and nutritional value of the wheat grain was also removed. In fact, about 30 nutrients are removed including, grain fiber, essential fatty acids, and most of the vitamins and minerals. By law, 5 nutrients (although often more) have to be added back, “enriched” with : iron, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and folic acid.

Even “healthy” wheat bread is basically white bread with specks of wheat added back in to change the texture and add a little color. Some wheat breads are actually given the “wheat” color by the addition of artificial caramel color. With this addition of specks of wheat it only adds .5g of additional fiber (for a total of 1g of fiber) and 1g less of carbohydrates (compared to white bread) per slice.

Baking bread at home is a great alternate to buying these dangerous artificial ingredients. You will be able to choose your own ingredients and even make your bread gluten free if you choose.