Make your daily bread Nutritious

Bread is an important source of food. It is prepared by making dough of flour with water, and a few more ingredients and cooking in a skillet. Dough is added with salt, fat and softening and fermenting agents like yeast and baking soda. Bread may also contain several other ingredients that would help improve the quality of the bread. Some of the basic ingredients used in making bread apart from flour include: table salt, sugars, flavours and at least a floor improver such as potassium bromate. Other ingredients may also include milk, egg, spice, fruit (such as raisins), vegetables (such as onions), nuts (such as walnuts) or seeds (such as poppy-seeds). The ever-growing popularity of bread may be connected with its convenience, high acceptability, high energy content and low level of blood cholesterol. Water and flour are the major components in a bread recipe. They affect the bread texture and  bread crumb properties.

Majority of the world population consume bread for their breakfast. Now, the newspapers have flashed about potassium bromate, a food additive present in bread is a carcinogen. The bread lovers fear while they are eating breakfast. Many of us have stopped buying bread. Let us have a look at its chemistry.

The most talked and feared chemical today is Potassium Bromate. It is a compound of Bromine and Potassium. Its Molecular formula is: KBrO₃. Its molecular weight is 167.00g/mol. Its density is 3.27g/cm^3.. It exists as white crystals, crystalline powder, or granules. It is highly soluble in ethanol.  It is very stable when dissolved in water at room temperature. Its melting point is 350^oC. It decomposes at temperature above 370⁰C  with the evolution of oxygen and toxic fumes.

In the laboratory, Potassium bromate is produced by passing bromine into a solution of potassium hydroxide. On a large scale, in industries, potassium bromate is produced by electrolytic process.

Uses of Potassium Bromate:

It is a food additive. It is used in making bakery products like, bread, pizza and burgers. It is added to the dough while making these products.  It improves the texture of the dough. It bleaches the dough and on slicing the bread we see it as pure white. It acts as a flour improver. It aids in strengthening the dough and makes it elastic and helps in rising bread. It is an oxidizing agent.

A test was conducted by scientists in CSE Pollution Monitoring Laboratory. They found that Potassium bromate and iodate levels were present in bakery products beyond the permissible range. On further research they concluded that these food additives are carcinogenic and they are thyroid triggering compounds.

A study conducted in Japan in 1982 has found that potassium bromate causes cancer. Following this, many countries including Japan, Australia, China and UK have banned it. Further research on potassium bromate has revealed that potassium bromate is a genotoxic carcinogen, which are capable of destroying genetic information present in the cells causing genetic mutations.

Why has Indian Government not banned this chemical? Instead of adding this poisonous food additive the bakers can bake the bread with vitamin C rich,  minerals rich, protein rich s ,Vitamin A rich and Vitamin B rich food sources so that vitamins and mineral deficiencies of our people can be easily tackled. Medicines have become very expensive. Therefore food  should be used as medicine.

• When the dough is mixed with carrots and greens and baked, the bread is rich in anthocyanins and carotenes. This is vitamin A rich bread.
• If the dough is mixed with citrus fruit juices and baked, the bread is rich in vitamin C.
• The dough can be mixed with palak, methi leaves and then bread can be made. This bread is now rich in minerals.
• Lentil flours can be added while preparing dough and baked. This bread is rich in proteins.
• Vitamin B includes thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid. Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, biotin and pantothenic acid. Food sources of this complex vitamin should be identified and added to the dough to make the bread.

Adding chemicals to the food that we eat is no longer safe for our health. Adding food sources fortifies our diet so that vitamins and mineral deficiencies can be easily tackled.

In this way our breakfast bread can be made chemical free and organic. This type of bread is people friendly and health friendly. The people of our nation will be devoid of malnutrition and other diseases. When people are healthy, they can perform better. Healthy individuals constitute a healthy and wealthy nation as Health is Wealth.