White bread helps develop 'good' gut bacteria

London: Researchers have now discovered that white bread might not be bad at all, as it helps the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, the deficiency of which makes one vulnerable to diseases.

Sonia Gonzalez and colleagues noted that the bacteria in our guts, or our microbiome, play an important role in our health, and one of the most effective ways to maintain a good balance of the microbes living in our guts is through our diets.

To figure out what dietary ingredients promote helpful bacteria, Gonzalez's team asked 38 healthy adults questions about their diets and figured out which bacteria were present in the participants' stool samples. Their analysis revealed that pectin, a compound in citrus fruits, lowers the levels of some helpful bacteria.

The researchers suggest that pectin interacts with other substances in oranges, leading to this unexpected effect. Their most novel finding, they said, was that white bread boosted Lactobacillus, a group of beneficial bacteria.

The study is published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.