Studies on the composition of food. 4. Comparison of the nutrient content of retail white bread made conventionally and by the Chorleywood Bread Process.

Abstract

1. Loaves of conventional white bread and of bread made by the Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) were bought from bakers’shops in Britain over a 10-month period and were bulked to give samples representative of each type of bread produced for consumption in the country as a whole. These were analysed for moisture, protein and amino acids, fats and fatty acids, carbohydrate (by difference), sodium, potassium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, total and available nicotinic acid, vitamin B6, and free folic acid.2. There were no great differences between the nutrient contents of the two types of bread. The mean moisture contents differed by only 5 g/kg but a variation was found between some selected nutrients in paired loaves of the same type. CBP bread could not be distinguished from conventional bread in its content of fat, ash, calcium, sodium, potassium, thiamin, total and available nicotinic acid and vitamin B6. The content of riboflavin was slightly higher, and of protein and carbohydrate slightly lower in CBP bread than in conventional bread. Differences in fatty acid composition of the two types of bread and in their content of total sulphur-containing amino acids were slight.