If You Store Your Bread In The Freezer, You're Getting An Unexpected Health Benefit

Bread may be a simple kitchen staple, but did you know that how you store it can actually impact its health benefits?

Maybe you store yours at room temperature in the pantry or toss it into the fridge (we beg you to stop doing that, because it only dries it out).

But if you store your bread in the freezer, you may be getting some additional benefits besides long-lasting storage – because freezing bread can also give a meaningful boost to your gut health, blood sugar and digestion, thanks to a natural change in the starches through a process called retrogradation, which forms resistant starch.

Cooling is key to retrogradation, and storage temperature influences how much resistant starch forms.

The science behind retrogradation

Starch is a type of carbohydrate found in foods like bread, potatoes and grains, and it absorbs moisture and gelatinises when cooked with water. At a molecular level, starch is made up of two glucose polymers: amylose and amylopectin. In bread, for instance, registered dietitian Avery Zenker explains that the heat of baking disrupts the hydrogen bonds that normally keep starch molecules tightly packed in a crystalline structure, allowing amylose and amylopectin to become easier for digestive enzymes to access.

As the bread cools after baking, those starches begin to shift again. “During retrogradation, some of the starch molecules realign and form new crystalline structures that are more difficult for the body to digest and absorb, hence their name, ‘resistant starch,’” Zenker said.

The amount of resistant starch that forms in bread can range significantly, depending on factors like the type of wheat, how the bread is processed, the ingredients used and the baking method.

“Fresh-baked white bread contains about 0.5 to 1.7% resistant starch by weight. After cooling or freezing and thawing, this might increase to 1 to 3%” said Zenker, as a reference point.

What refrigerating and freezing bread really does to........

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