Effects of Modest Amounts of Wheat Bran and Dietary Protein on Mineral Metabolism of Humans

Abstract

Adverse effects of whole meal wheat bread on retention of calcium and iron by men were reported by McCance and Widdowson in the early 1940’s.^1,2 Since then, their findings have been confirmed by others. One of these later investigators was Reinhold who showed that common whole meal wheat bread of Iranian villagers and Mexican tortilla impaired retention of various essential minerals. ^3–6 His findings provided substantial support for the hypothesis that habitual consumption of large amounts of such breads is an important factor in the occurrence of zinc deficiency among the poor of Third World countries. Because the poor of Third World countries subsist in large part on cereals, the relevance of these findings for persons who consume western type diets which include only modest amounts of whole-grain cereal products is unclear.