Physiology. — "Krpprijneiits witk Animnls on the Nutritive Value 

 of Standard Brown-Bread and White-Bread" Bj Prof. C. 

 EiJKMAN and Dr. D. J. Hulshoff Pol. 



(Communicated in the meeting of April 26, 1918). 



Owing to the scarcity of food the old problem has latterly cropped 

 up again whether, instead of baking white-bread, it woidd not be 

 more pi-actical to make bread of nnboltei-ed meal, since through the 

 process of boltering the gi-ain loses 20 — 30 "/o of its nutritive value, 

 according to the degree of milling. The modern technique of grinding 

 enables the miller to separate the Ooui-, which contains the constituents 

 of the endosperm or starchy i)art, nearly entirely from the bran 

 and the germs of the grain. 



The current opinion among people (hat l)rown-bread is more 

 nourishing than white, is founded chiefly on the belief that brown 

 bread is more satiating and appeases the appetite for a longer period 

 than white bread does. Though this property must not be underrated, 

 it scarcely needs to be pointed out, that it cannot be an index for 

 the content of nutritious matter. The bran (inclusive of the germs) 

 differs from the flour by a smaller amount of starch and more 

 nutritive salts, fat and protein. However it also contains more cellulose, 

 which is all but indigestible for man, and which also i-enders it difficult 

 for the alimentary canal to utilize the foodstuffs contained in the 

 bran, since they are for the greater part shut up within thick walls 

 of cellulose. This is why many consider the bran to be useless for 

 man, even noxious, and deem it better that only flour should be 

 baked into bread and the bran should be given to the cattle, which 

 can digest cellulose well and return to us the foodstuffs of the bran 

 in the form of flesh and dairy-products. On the other hand it has 

 been argued that this round-about way via the cow, is also attended 

 with great loss, and that, in striking a balance, it will turn out 

 that man gets more food from wheat in the form of brown bread 

 in spite of less digestibility, than from an equal amount of wheat 

 in white bread. 



However, it now appears that the problem requires re-consideration, 

 since it has been proved that, besides the foodstuffs alluded to, the 

 bran also contains peculiar constituents, altogether lacking in flour. 



