A staple of the American diet, white bread is baked from processed wheat flour that is high in carbs. The processing of wheat grain eliminates its fiber-rich bran and its vitamin-loaded germ. The bran carries dietary fibers while the germ supplies B vitamins, vitamin E and minerals that facilitate your digestion and metabolism. Lack of these essential nutrients in white bread can put you at risk for diseases. The high glycemic index of white bread and gluten content may also be bad for your health.
High Blood Sugar
White bread escalates your blood sugar levels because your body absorbs its carbs at high speeds. The high glycemic index of white bread boosts your body to digest and absorb its sugars within seconds. Frequent consumption of high GI foods like white bread leaves you vulnerable to diabetes, kidney stones and heart disease.
Inadequate Energy
Lack of B vitamins in white bread derails your body cells from producing adequate energy from carbs. This affects your brain and other organs because carbs account for up to 75 percent of your body energy. Vitamin B-1 boosts the thrashing of carbs into simple sugars before vitamins B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6 and B-7 draw and convey the energy from these sugars. These essential digestive activities slacken when the B vitamins are wiped out of your food.
Constipation
Lack of fiber in white bread exposes you to constipation problems due to slow intestinal food movement. Dietary fiber softens, binds and accelerates the movement of food through your intestines. Any sluggish movement of the food prompts the large intestines -- or colon -- to absorb almost all the moisture from the food, leaving you with dry, hard and crumpled stools that cause abdominal pain.
Bad Cholesterol
White bread lacks fiber and vitamin E essential for lowering the low-density lipoprotein -- or bad -- cholesterol in your blood. The bad cholesterol stimulates oxidants -- or free radicals -- in your blood to settle and form layers of fat in your blood vessels. This narrows the blood vessels and exposes you to higher risk of heart disease. You need dietary fiber to prevent the bad cholesterol from entering your bloodstream because it binds and eliminates it with your stool. You also need vitamin E to flush out the harmful free radicals from your blood.
Others
You risk gaining excessive weight when the proteins and fats in white bread accumulate in your body. White bread also carries the gluten protein that deteriorates your health if you suffer from celiac disease or other gluten allergies. The deficiency of vitamins B-12 and E in white bread further exposes you to anemia -- a shortage of red blood cells -- and weakens your immunity to diseases. Your body requires vitamin B-12 to form red blood cells and vitamin E to develop strong immunity against diseases.
