Today's interesting fact has to do with Bread.

About 80% of the bread sold these days is produced using a system called the Chorleywood Process.

It is characterised by having a long shelf life, is almost always plastic wrapped, and is usually but not always defined as a sandwich loaf.

The process was developed in Chorleywood Flour Milling and Bakery Research Association laboratories in 1961 and it has revolutionised the way bread is produced throughout the world.

The bread on the inside is up to 40% softer, comes out fluffier so you get larger loafs with less material and importantly allows the baker to use lower protein wheat, with the side benefit is that the shelf life of the bread is usually more than doubled. The process also saves money by reducing the amount of time required from start to finish by more than half.

The traditional method of baking bread uses yeast and there are several methods. One is to mix the all ingredients at once, create the dough, allow it to rise, punch it down, place in baking tray, it to prove (rise again) and finally bake. Another method requires mixing the ingredients and allowing 24 to 72 hours or more of fermentation before baking.

The new process works by adding hard fats, extra yeast and a number of different chemicals and mixing at high speed until the dough is ready to bake in a fraction of the time the traditional methods take. The extra chemicals added include (but are not limited to) ascorbic acid, hydrochloride, sodium metabisulfate, ammonium chloride, various phosphates, amylase, and protease.

The whole process has started to come under question. The hard fats used for some time were usually transfats and many places (such as New York City) have started to ban the use of transfats in foods. The yeast doesn't have as much time to work on the bread and it is suggested that the chemistry of the bread may be affected. This change in chemistry is thought by some to be causing the issues of gluten intolerance. This is because traditionally made breads do not cause the specific symptoms people seem get when eating bread produced by the newer system. Three-quarters of people who believe they have an allergy or intolerance to bread show no signs in blind allergy testing.

There have been marked changes in our gut flora since the introduction of this new bread making system. These changes have been liked to allergies, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease and Clostridium Difficile infections, as well as possibly many diseases originally thought to only be genetic, bacterial or viral in nature, such as Diabetes and Parkinson disease.

Studies using test animals have suggested there is a possible link. Recent human studies starting using with men and women who have never eaten bread produced by the Chorleywood system have shown significant changes to their gut flora once they start eating the bread. While the jury is still out, initial indications are suggesting that the changes in our gut bacteria may not be helpful to our overall health.

Watch this space, as this gives hope for those who think they are gluten intolerant. They may just need to change the bread they eat and if that doesn’t work have a gut flora transplant.