In the spirit of this blog, which I can not quite explain, I decided last Sunday night to take a very casual look at some of the things that I eat or put into my system unwittingly. I’m doing this for several reasons… but mainly because I remembered a dear friend, “B”, with whom I sat through statistics and other terrifying classes during our doctoral studies, telling me that I should consider eating breads that did not contain as many chemicals because this may help worsen my problematic digestive system. Anyway, the system has been acting up, so I decided to look at the stuff that goes into the stuff that I stuff into my mouth every day.
Over the course of the past week, (it’s only Thursday) I ripped the labels off the packaging of the bread that I ate every day, and recorded the chemical substances that I unwittingly consumed. The following is a selection of these chemicals with a brief description of their benefits and side effects. I have also provided links to provide extra information and there is a basic recipe for bread at the end of this post.

Packaging Labels on Bread

Enlarged Label
This a truncated list of chemicals and other substances that were in the bread that I consumed this week
- Niacin
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Thiamine Mononitrate
- Ribovflavin
- Folic Acid
- Silicon Dioxide
- Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono-diglycerides (DATEM)
NIACIN
WebMD, the only source of medical advice I can afford, being that I live in the United States where private corporations effectively control who gets medical help and or advice, explains that
“All people who are taking nicotinic acid should be closely monitored for signs of liver problems by measuring the level of liver enzymes with blood tests.”
What, then, is Niacin. It is a B vitamin, that occurs naturally in plants and animals, and is also added to many processed foods as a vitamin supplement, and can be found, therefore, in several vitamin and nutritional supplements. Niacin is usually used to treat and prevent a lack of natural niacin in the body, and to lower cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. The substance is also used to lower the risk of heart attack in people with high cholesterol who have already had a heart attack, and is sometimes used to treat atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease.
Niacin can cause certain side effects, such as flushing (warmth, itching, redness, or tingly feeling under your skin). These effects can be made worse if you drink alcohol or hot beverages shortly after you take niacin.
People who are allergic to nicotinic acid (sometimes considered to be the same as niacin) or have liver disease, stomach ulcers should not consume Niacin Acid. What is Nicotinic Acid? Let me say, immediately, that the amount of this stuff that one takes in bread may be miniscule, however, it is interesting to read through the side effects. This post is not about the dangers or side effects, it is about the chemicals I consumed unwittingly.
Side Effects of Nicotinic Acid
The immediate-release form is safe for long-term use. But nicotinic acid has frequent side effects, including:
- Sudden blushing or redness of the face (flushing), which is more common with the immediate-release forms of nicotinic acid.
- Itching.
- Liver problems (hepatotoxicity), especially with the sustained-release form.
- High blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
- Too much uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia). Excess uric acid in the blood can lead to gout.
- Gastrointestinal problems such as upset stomach, gas, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
- Dizziness, light-headedness, or a fast or slow heartbeat.
These side effects are more severe when higher doses are used.
FERROUS SULFATE
This is a type of iron that one normally gets from the foods we eat. Once in the body, iron becomes a part of your haemoglobin (which carries oxygen through the blood to tissues and organs) and myoglobin (which helps muscle cells store oxygen). Ferrous Sulfate is often used to treat a lack of red blood cells that is caused by low levels of iron in the body.
THIAMINE MONONITRATE
I am gobsmacked! Anyway, one Medical Dictionary explains that Thiamin is “a water-soluble component of the B vitamin complex, found particularly in pork, organ meats, legumes, nuts, and whole grain or enriched breads and cereals. The active form is thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), which serves as a coenzyme in various reactions. Deficiency can result in beriberi and is a factor in alcoholic neuritis and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.” SERIOUSLY!?
The dictionary continues: it is “…essential for normal metabolism and health of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Thiamine plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of glucose to yield energy in body tissues. Rich sources are pork; organ meats; green leafy vegetables; legumes; sweet corn; egg yolk; cornmeal; brown rice; yeast; and the germ and husks of grains, berries, and nuts. It is not stored in the body and must be supplied daily. A deficiency of thiamine affects chiefly the nervous system, the circulation, and the GI tract. Symptoms include irritability, emotional disturbances, loss of appetite, multiple neuritis, increased pulse rate, dyspnea, reduced intestinal motility, and heart irregularities. Severe deficiency causes beriberi.” (As some people in Spain might say: This is all beri beri confusing)
(The same dictionary had no entry for mononitrate, which makes me think there’s some conspiracy underway)
RIBOFLAVIN
Riboflavin is a type of B vitamin. It is water soluble, which means it is not stored in the body. You must replenish the vitamin every day. Riboflavin works with the other B vitamins. It is considered to be important for body growth and red blood cell production and helps in releasing energy from carbohydrates. It is usually found in some lean meat, eggs, nuts and legumes, green leafy vegetables, dairy products, and milk. It is considered “normal” for breads and cereals to be “fortified with riboflavin”
Here’s an interesting bit, Riboflavin is destroyed by exposure to light, and therefore foods with riboflavin should not be stored in glass containers that are exposed to light. Bloody ‘ell. Plus, because riboflavin is water-soluble leftover amounts leave the body through the urine. There is no known poisoning from riboflavin – so you can drink your pee.
In terms of side effects, riboflavin deficiency is not common in the US because it is plentiful in the food supply. Symptoms of significant deficiency syndromes include sore throat, swelling of mucous membranes, mouth or lip sores, anemia, and skin disorders.
FOLIC ACID
Folic acid is a B vitamin. It helps the body make healthy new cells. Everyone needs folic acid. For women who may get pregnant, it is really important. When a woman has enough folic acid in her body before and during pregnancy, it can prevent major birth defects of her baby’s brain or spine. YAY!
SILICON DIOXIDE
This stuff is serious! In food it is used as a flow agent. Silicon Dioxide is a chemical compound also known as silica is an oxide of silicon and known for its toughness. Silica is the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust, and most commonly found in sand, quartz, and in the cell walls of diatoms. It is the main ingredient in most types of glass and concrete. The picture below, courtesy of the University of Miami, is of a diatom.

This is a Diatom. I placed this picture online because these thingys are so colourful and pretty. Courtesy of the University of Miami.
Jessis, read this, the people at Georgia Tech College of Engineering explained that: “Under exposure to oxygen, a silicon surface oxidizes to form silicon dioxide (SiO2). Native silicon dioxide is a high-quality electrical insulator and can be used as a barrier material during impurity implants or diffusion, for electrical isolation of semiconductor devices, as a component in MOS transistors, or as an interlayer dielectric in multilevel metallization structures such as multichip modules. The ability to form a native oxide was one of the primary processing considerations which led to silicon becoming the dominant semiconductor material used in integrated circuits today.”
DIACETYL TARTARIC ACID ESTERS OF MONO-DIGLYCERIDES (DATEM)
DATEM is an emulsifier in which diacetyl tartaric acid is bound with monoglyceride. A an hydrophilic emulsifier and acid resistant, it is used for emulsification and foaming of margarine, mayonnaise and dressing. It can act on starch and protein, it is used as a dough modifier.
Oy, now we have to explain what a monoglyceride is …
A monoglyceride is a glyceride consisting of a fatty acid chain covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through an ester linkage. Okay, this is getting out of hand, I really can not be arsed to keep digging. The point is that clever people make it difficult for us simple people to get to the core of these things…
… and there I was thinking that bread is baked with yeast, honey, water, bread flour and salt.
This is Jamie Oliver’s recipe for basic bread.
- 3/4 oz. active dried yeast
- 2 TBSP honey
- just over 1 pint tepid water
- just over 2lb strong bread flour
- 1 TBSP salt
- some extra flour for dusting
1 Dissolve the yeast and honey or sugar in half the tepid water.
2 On a clean surface or in a large bowl, make a pile of flour and salt. Make a well in the centre, and pour in the dissolved yeast mixture. With four fingers of one hand, make circular movements from the centre moving outwards, slowly bringing in more and more of the flour, until all the yeast mix is soaked up. Pour the other half of the tepid water into the centre, and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough. (Certain flours may need a little more water, so adjust the quantitites.)
3 Roll, push and fold the dough over and over for five minutes, to develop the gluten and structure of the dough. If any of the dough sticks to your hands, just rub them together with a little flour.
4 Flour both your hands well, and lightly flour the top of the dough. Make it into a roundish shape, and place on a baking tray. Deeply score the dough with a knife, allowing it to relax and prove with ease. Leave it to prove until it’s doubled in size. Ideally you want a warm, moist, draught-free place for the quickest prove, for example near a warm cooker, in the airing cupboard or just in a warmish room, and you can even cover it with clingfilm, if you want to speed things up. This proving process improves the flavour and texture of the dough, and should take around 40 minutes, depending on the conditions.
5 When the dough has doubled in size, you need to knock the air out of it by bashing it around for a minute. Shape it into whatever shape you want – round, flat, filled, trayed up or tinned up – and leave it to prove for a second time until it doubles in size again. Don’t feel a need to rush through this, because the second proving time will give it a lovely, delicate soft texture.
6 Now you want to keep all the air inside the loaf, so don’t knock it. Gently place it in the preheated oven and don’t slam the door. Bake according to the time and temperature given in the recipe variations. You can tell if your bread is cooked by tapping its bottom (take it out of the tin first!) If it sounds hollow, it’s cooked. If not, put it back in the oven for a little longer. Place on a rack to cool.