The research team believe that their approach will succeed because they are adding only the inner layer of the bran, which is less strongly flavoured and coloured. They say they will need to add less of it because they are using other highly nutritious but less strongly flavoured grains.
White bread has to have minerals and vitamins added to it by law to make up for the goodness that’s lost in the refining process. But Dr Amanda Lloyd, who is working with Dr Howarth and Mr Holister, believes that the use of natural ingredients would make the sliced white loaf even healthier.
“If the nutritional quality of bog standard bread is improved,” said Dr Lloyd, “then the quality of people’s life and their health and wellbeing will improve.”
Tim Lang, a professor of food policy at City University, who is independent of the research team, said that the work could be an important step forward in improving people’s health.
“The British have had a love affair with white bread for more than a century and nutritionists have longed to get more people to eat the whole grain,” he said. “The new research seems like a really interesting approach to doing that.
“Critics would say that it is tricking people into improving their diet, but nutritionists would say it doesn’t matter how it’s done – it’s important to get it down people’s throats to improve their health!
“But the jury’s out as to whether this new approach will work,” he added.
