Attention Breadmakers: Bromide vs. Iodide in processed flour

[indaswamp]

Just recently learned about this... Iodide (or is it Iodate?) was used as a conditioner in commercial flour up until around 1980. Then a switch to Bromide was made. My question is why was this done? Bromide is toxic to the human body and is banned in food stuffs in a lot of countries. Bromine will displace Iodine in the body when a person is deficient in Iodine (which is more common than people think). Bromine has been linked with numerous cancers...Breast, Uterine, Prostate, Pancreatic....among others.

Can anyone shed some light on this reason for the change?

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

I did a little searching, but don't have a good answer. The switch from iodine (usually as the iodate salt) to bromine (bromate salt) apparently started in the late '40's, but really picked up steam in the 60's and iodine was phased out by the 80's. The King Arthur flour website says that when used in the proper amount, the bromate salt is destroyed in the baking process--no trace remains. Br is an element; it can't be destroyed by any chemical process. Maybe it is converted back to elemental bromine and it bakes out of the bread. King Arthur does go on to say they've never used it. There are alternative conditioners, so bromate-free flour is out there, even in the US where it isn't a requirement.

Bromine, like Iodine, Chromium, and Selenium (or their salts) are simultaneously nutrients essential to life, and crazy toxic and/or carcinogenic. You must have a very small amount in your diet to survive, too much will kill you. Paracelsus got it right when he wrote in 1538: "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.", usually paraphrased as 'The dose makes the poison'.

 

[voyager 663rd]

Just look for 'unbleached' flour. I've found only two brands that sell that are true 'unbleached'.

You HAVE to research every single ingredient in that bag of flour. If you can't pronounce it, it's probably not what you want to put in your body.

Deceitful: they call it "conditioner" --->one is "azodicarbonamide". Claim its a conditioner but it's a bleach.

Used in making yoga mats and those flip-flop sandals. Among other products.

When I contacted the manufacturer, they claimed it was not a bleaching agent. I pointed it out to them (what i just said above) and in a followup, surpriseingly they agreed.

I don't know if they adjusted the forumula BUT I never even considered buying their "unbleached" flour because it was ONE BIG LIE !

 

[indaswamp]

Bromine, like Iodine, Chromium, and Selenium (or their salts) are simultaneously nutrients essential to life, and crazy toxic and/or carcinogenic.

Thank you for posting. I had no idea Bromine was a trace element essential to life in the human body! You are right though-dosage is the key! A lot of people are low in iodine. The RDA was set 100 years ago; and it was the minimum amount needed to prevent goiter is farm animals. that dosage was extrapolated for humans. I had no idea how many tissues in the body use/store iodine....

 

[indaswamp]

So it seems that this discovery is relatively recent....2014.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

Just look for 'unbleached' flour. I've found only two brands that sell that are true 'unbleached'.

Care to enlighten us??

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Mill your own wheat and skip the toxic store bought flours

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

Mill your own wheat and skip the toxic store bought flours

I'll get right on that as soon as I'm done slaughtering the hogs.

:)

 

[voyager 663rd]

Care to enlighten us??

Canadian brands --Our Compliments Unbleached and Rogers Unbleached.

That 'azodicarbonamide' features on most/all other brands. IIRC there may be other chemicals in the same category.

 

[Kvgsqtii]

Bob's Red Mill Organic Unbleached White All Purpose Flour states that it is unbleached and unbromated and it's readily available at most stores.

 

[voyager 663rd]

Mill your own wheat and skip the toxic store bought flours

I do that too ! Had this Nutrimill (decided it was better than Wondermill). Can grind TWENTY cups of grain at one go. Will also grind rice, lentils, etc. I also grind my own spelt and rye grains as well. All you need is a source to buy 20 pound bags of grain of your choice.

I use rice flour to flour my bannetons as it has no gluten--therefore, no dough sticks to the basket.

Only thing is you now have to get a 40 or 50 mesh sieve to sift out the bran. Otherwise, you've got whole wheat flour (obviously) which will affect your bread making.

AND store-bough whole wheat bread is not whole wheat. It's usually only about 40-60% whole wheat and the other % is.....bleached white AP flour.

 

[PolishDeli]

Potassium bromate (KBrO3 ) is what presently gets added to some bread flours. Potassium iodate (KIO3) was also used through the 80s. Companies started using KBrO3 because it resulted in a better texture.

Both are oxidizers that improve the structure of gluten by helping the formation of disulfide bonds in the proteins.

KIO3 is a fast acting oxidizer. It results in a tougher bread. Adding it to flour ensured that peple got enough iodine in their diet. However, excessive iodine intake became a concern.

KBrO3 is a slower acting oxidier and results in a more elastic texture. It has a demonstrated link to DNA mutations and cancer. Ideally, it reduces to KBr during baking. However, recent tests in Bangladesh have shown residual levels of KBrO3 to be as high as 5ppm (doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.4546). Note the FDA limit is 20ppb. I've not been able to find numbers on US products. However, some manufacturers (e.g. King Arthur) have opted to switch to using ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

 

[indaswamp]

And that^^^^^^^ is why I love this website so much!!! Thank you for posting!!

 

[forktender]

I did a little searching, but don't have a good answer. The switch from iodine (usually as the iodate salt) to bromine (bromate salt) apparently started in the late '40's, but really picked up steam in the 60's and iodine was phased out by the 80's. The King Arthur flour website says that when used in the proper amount, the bromate salt is destroyed in the baking process--no trace remains. Br is an element; it can't be destroyed by any chemical process. Maybe it is converted back to elemental bromine and it bakes out of the bread. King Arthur does go on to say they've never used it. There are alternative conditioners, so bromate-free flour is out there, even in the US where it isn't a requirement.

Bromine, like Iodine, Chromium, and Selenium (or their salts) are simultaneously nutrients essential to life, and crazy toxic and/or carcinogenic. You must have a very small amount in your diet to survive, too much will kill you. Paracelsus got it right when he wrote in 1538: "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.", usually paraphrased as 'The dose makes the poison'.

That's a load of crap, KA should be ashamed of themselves.
Only use non bromated organic flour, such as Central Mills.

Central Milling Home // Premium Flour & Grains for Professional Bakers

We are the Farmer, the Miller, and the Baker working to preserve farmland for tomorrow and to provide premium flour and grains to the bakers of today.

centralmilling.com

 

[BGKYSmoker]

That's a load of crap, KA should be ashamed of themselves.
Only use non bromated organic flour, such as Central Mills.

Central Milling Home // Premium Flour & Grains for Professional Bakers

We are the Farmer, the Miller, and the Baker working to preserve farmland for tomorrow and to provide premium flour and grains to the bakers of today.

centralmilling.com

Central Milling has some really good grains and flours.

 

[Jim_C]

This has been very enlightening.

I have never given much thought to flour and always thought it was....well.....flour, aka, ground wheat and nothing else. I buy the 50 lb. bag at Smart N' Final.

Looks like I need to go see what else is in it.

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

That's a load of crap, KA should be ashamed of themselves.
Only use non bromated organic flour, such as Central Mills.

Central Milling Home // Premium Flour & Grains for Professional Bakers

We are the Farmer, the Miller, and the Baker working to preserve farmland for tomorrow and to provide premium flour and grains to the bakers of today.

centralmilling.com

Are you saying King Arthur flour contains bromates, despite their claim that they have never used them? I've no knowledge of it one way or the other, but I'd be surprised if they would risk making such a false claim; regulatory penalties are pretty harsh for misstating ingredients in the food supply.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

This is what's available where I live.
No mention of bromides or anything anywhere.

Walmart's cheapest AP flour:

Ingredients​

Bleached Wheat Flour Enriched (Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid) , Malted Barley Flour

Krogers cheapest AP flour:
Ingredients
Enriched Unbleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Malted Barley Flour.

Krogers cheapest bleached AP flour:
Ingredients
Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Enzyme.

Foodtown AP Flour:
Ingredients: ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (CONTAINS BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN AND FOLIC ACID), MALTED BARLEY FLOUR.

 

[forktender]

Are you saying King Arthur flour contains bromates, despite their claim that they have never used them? I've no knowledge of it one way or the other, but I'd be surprised if they would risk making such a false claim; regulatory penalties are pretty harsh for misstating ingredients in the food supply.

I was alluding too their statement.
"The King Arthur flour website says that when used in the proper amount, the bromate salt is destroyed in the baking process--no trace remains".

 

[forktender]