Irritable bowel syndrome: this is how bread is easy to digest
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More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.Abdominal cramps, diarrhea, constipation: those who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome try to avoid anything that makes these symptoms worse or causes them. In many cases, this means not choosing food, including fresh bread. That doesn't have to be the case: Irritable bowel patients can still treat themselves to a delicious jam sandwich for breakfast - it just depends on the right preparation of the bread.
People with irritable bowel syndrome often report that they tolerate pastries made from so-called ancient grains better. These include emmer, spelled and durum. But it is not because of the type of grain whether someone with irritable bowel syndrome is sensitive, as Reinhold Carle and his colleagues from the University of Hohenheim have found out.
Critical sugar
Rather, the problems that irritable bowel syndrome sufferers have after eating bread are related to certain sugars: the so-called FODMAPs. These are short-chain sugar molecules that, due to their short length, cannot be absorbed as well in the small intestine. If they simply flow through, they end up undigested in the large intestine and are broken down by bacteria there. The result: gases are created that bloat or trigger other irritable bowel symptoms.
The ancient grains contain a little less of these FODMAP sugars, but still so much that they should actually cause discomfort. Why are breads baked from these grains still easier to digest? In order to investigate this question, the scientists determined the amount of FODMAPs at different times in bread preparation for different types of grain - including wheat. To do this, they analyzed the dough after one, two, four and four and a half hours of walking time.
Slow baking
The result: the longer a dough was allowed to rise, the fewer critical sugar molecules it contained. Compared to an hour's walk, only ten percent of the FODMAPs were contained after four and a half hours. “The generally slower bread preparation in the traditional bakery trade ensures that the discomfort-causing components in the bread are already broken down by the time it is baked,” explains Carle. If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, you should ask the baker about the type of preparation, according to the advice of the experts.
The so-called "slow baking" also has another advantage: the flavors develop better. If you want to make sure that the walking time is optimal for you, you can also try your hand at being a bread baker.
Wrong speed
Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders. It is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that no other disease can be found that could explain the symptoms. About twelve percent of Germans regularly struggle with abdominal pain and the like due to the disease. Women are affected about twice as often as men. Most of the time the symptoms appear for the first time between the ages of 20 and 30.
Source: Carle R. et al .: Wheat and the irritable bowel syndrome - FODMAP levels of modern and ancient species and their retention during bread making, Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 25, August 2016, Pages 257 - 266.
