Does flour go off?

Does flour go off? Is the ultra-refining of wheat absolutely necessary and are there other strategies that could be used to prevent the oxidation of the fats?

Does flour go bad is a very pertinent question? Yes, it certainly does.

One hundred percent whole wheat contains a huge number of essential vitamins, minerals and fat; and essential plant nutrients like lignans and betaine. Once the kernel is cracked and air can get to these components, oxidation begins. In short, it starts going rancid and relatively quickly; within days.

In fact in reality in a small way, within hours; the ideal is to mill the flour and immediately bake your bread.

Disclaimer

The food manufacturing industry's solution is simple; remove these substances. So most wheat foods are either 100 percent extraction which means that all the bran and wheat germ are discarded; and it is often then also bleached to make it super white, perfect for the unwitting and unconcerned cook.

Or 60 percent extraction flour is used, meaning that 40% of the goodies have been removed. In practice that means that most of the B vitamins and minerals are lost; interestingly, they go to animal food where they are described as a "wastage product" of the milling industry.

So too the bran is removed; it's the insoluble fibre that gives the stool bulk, making it easy to pass.

Whilst I don't believe in adding extra to our food, the natural bran in one hundred percent whole wheat has been shown in research published in the journal Diabetes Care to greatly reduce metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance; and the lignans gives protection against prostate and breast cancer.

In short even the most common "wholewheat flours," having in reality less than 50% of the vitally important stuff are ultra-processed, dangerous and fattening.

Does flour go off?

Does flour go off? Yes, it certainly does though placing it in the freezer for two weeks gives some protection against the weevils and the oxidizing effect of the air. Then it can be stored in airtight buckets indefinitely.

It's the oils in the wheat germ that go rancid; in nature and in our bodies, these fats are protected against the air by an antioxidant called vitamin E; extract it, discard it and you have the answer to the question, does flour go bad? Yes, it certainly does.

The upper part in the graphic above is 100% meal; the middle section is described as wholewheat on the bag but as you can see is a very different kettle of fish. Cake flour is at the bottom.

When these rancid and oxidised oils enter the body, their toxic waste products attack the inner lining known as the "intima" of our blood vessels causing a disease process called atherosclerosis; it progresses to high blood pressure and heart disease.

Therein we sit on the horns of a dilemma; we buy and use one hundred percent wholewheat flour that was milled certainly weeks and perhaps months previously but it's now loaded with the oxidised breakdown products of fats going rancid.

Or we eat refined flour that has had most of the valuable parts removed.

The solution comes in two parts.

1. Find a source of recently milled flour and insist on one hundred percent wholewheat. Keep it in the freezer.
   
2. Accept that we are no longer going to use refined, bleached white flour in our cooking, at least not in major proportions.
   

Neither of these may be palatable to us. Then we have to accept an uncertain future in which hypertension and heart disease rank highly; and the growing incidence of diabetes in our world.

Freezing your wholewheat flour

Freezing your wholewheat flour in an airtight container certainly helps; the whole oxidative process is slowed. Refined white flour has no nutrients, other than starch, so there is no point in keep it in the fridge; there's nothing to go bad and the weevils will show no interest.

• Storing wheat berries
  

Lignans

Lignans are a phytochemical that have a structure similar to oestrogen; they are broken down in the bowel to form a compound called enterodiol that research has proved gives protection against many cancers, including the breast and prostate. Does flour go bad is one part of the story.

Lignans are found in large amounts in whole grains and seeds. White flour has none, they go as a wastage product to keep animals in fine fettle.

100% whole wheat, sesame and flax seeds have large amounts of lignans.

You'll find the sesame seeds once hulled in the freezer in shops; if not avoid them. Expect to pay a lot more.

Inflammation is another area of great interest to chiropractors and their patients. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, proved that apparently healthy individuals eating a diet low in choline and its breakdown product betaine had 20% more low grade systemic inflammation in their bodies. 

This has profound implications for those patients who find they have multiple sources of pain in their bodies. Their backs, necks and shoulders all seem to ache; knees and feet too. This process is affecting our blood vessels and organs as well.

Choline is found in eggs, tofu and 100% wholewheat; spinach, beetroot and Swiss chard too.

Making every effort to minimise this low grade systemic inflammation translates into less back pain, fewer headaches and a reduced level of inflamed blood vessels.

If you're interested read the abstract in AJCN entitled dietary betaine and inflammation^[1].

What is betaine is a subject we should all have some understanding of if we have angry and inflamed bodies.

Hormone replacement therapy

It's indisputable now that women for go on to hormone replacement therapy have a much higher incidence of dread disease of the female organs. Interestingly if they enjoy high fibre diets, especially from grains and fruit they have a fifty percent reduced rate of breast cancer, when compared with those who ate the least foods.

Again the dilemma lies in the question does flour go bad? Remove the bran, vitamin E and fatty fraction and the risk of CA rises sharply.

This is particularly true of Combi HRT which contains both oestrogen and progestin; never use it except in extreme circumstances. And make sure you are getting plenty of fibre in your diet.

Wheat grinder

An electric wheat mill is the answer to the question does flour go bad.

• An electric flour mill for every baker
  

Yes healthy flour certainly has a shelf life, unlike the refined product that keeps for ever but gives us nutritionless, tasteless bread; worse, in order to make it edible we have to smother it in processed meats, jams and jellies. That too means a high risk of malignancies and diabetes. 

It will also mill corn. There are so many reasons to choose yellow grain for your grits; the beta-carotene and zeaxanthin for your eyes for example. Adult-onset macular degeneration, the commonest cause of blindness in the elderly is not fun.

• Why do we choose yellow maizemeal?
• Zeaxanthin protection against macular degeneration.

I could go on ad nauseam about the proven benefits of 100% whole wheat on gallstones, obesity and constipation; asthma, diabetes and a host of other diseases too. It's all in the scientific literature. If you are still unconvinced of the value of an electric flour mill and the five minutes you will have to spend baking your own bread every day, then read more at heart stroke diabetes.

Rather than suffer from these maladies, we decided to make the considerable investment in a wheat grinder, to purchase whole wheat grains and daily grind flour that would go bad if kept on the shelf, except that it is immediately used.

That decision meant also a conscious decision to reduce our white flour consumption; my wife tells me that we have used one and half pounds of the refined stuff in three months. I like it in the batter for my fried eggplant and she bakes cakes and scones very occasionally. One doesn't want to become a nutcase but these things are important. 

Compare that with 3/4 pound of whole wheat flour in each loaf of low GI bread that I bake daily. That's 70 pounds in three months. We purchase four 50kg sacks of the grain directly from the farmer every year.

We bought the grinder twenty-five years ago; it's definitely paid for itself many times over. Neither of us take any drugs or have any health issues, in our late seventies; but that is an anecdote of course, and of no real scientific value. Still, a life without medication is our dictum.

Antioxidant vitamin E

Does flour go bad and the antioxidant called vitamin E are fundamentally linked.

The antioxidant vitamin E is found in eight different isomers, all of which are important for human wellness.

In this instance it's these properties that are so important in helping prevent flour from going bad.

In the refining process both the germ, including vitamin E and fatty acids and the bran are removed. Isn't it odd that weevils have no interest in refined flour and it has an indefinite shelf life? All the goodness is gone, either sold as animal fodder or turned into expensive bran and softgel capsules; and retailed back to us at great profit.

Choline and spinal health

Choline and chiropractic surprisingly are synergistic subjects; they are both in the business of reducing inflammation in the body. It's a central subject in answering the question does flour go bad.

Choline is now recognised as a B vitamin that your body cannot synthesize and you must have daily in your diet for optimal health. It has many functions but one is the synthesis of an enzyme vitally important for methylation of a very inflammatory breakdown product of protein metabolism called homocysteine. It is central in many illnesses including Alzheimer's and cardiovascular disease.

100% whole wheat is an excellent source of choline but most of it is in the bran and germ; once it's refined it has little value to us. The hogs get the benefit.

The average Western diet has less than 50% of the required choline; it's one of the main reasons why there is so much inflammation in our joints, muscles and organs.

Your chiropractor can reduce the subluxation of your joints, a major cause of degenerative arthritis but it's your responsibility to make sure your homocysteine levels are kept low by consuming foods rich in the B vitamins; there is more information at choline food sources.

Preserving wheat berries

Wheat berries are subject to attack from three different sources; first weevils, secondly moisture and thirdly oxygen. The solution is to freeze them for at least ten days and then seal them in airtight containers.

We have a dedicated freezer into which large buckets of the wheat berries go; they are then removed and can be stored in a cool room for years.

The freezing process with kill any weevil larvae.

Ground wholemeal flour can be kept in the fridge for a maximum of seven days, and in the freezer for a month or two. However, my best advice is to keep the mill on the countertop and use the flour immediately it's ground.

There's little to be gained by refrigerating and freezing; and much to be lost.

• Causes of osteoporosis.
  
• Vegan seed bread

This is easy sourdough bread recipe if our favourite, made with 100% freshly ground wholemeal.

It is perhaps cynical but there is a fourth enemy that attacks wholesome wheat and reduces it to a worthless, fattening powder; the commercial miller. I stand behind my earnest belief that every serious baker deeply concerned about wellness should have his or her own grinder; then there is no separation of the germ, bran and endosperm.

• Terminology used in a grain of wheat
  

Gluten intolerance

Intolerance to the gluten in wheat is of great concern to many; and rightly so.

However the avoidance of whole grain products should also be of concern; it contributes directly to a significantly higher rate of heart disease, cancer and the many conditions associated with constipation.

There is a solution for the vast majority of gluten sufferers; enjoying bread that been exposed to a sourdough culture for a prolonged period. That means preparing it yourself; unless you have a very unusual and unique baker around the corner.

Read more on this subject at meaning of gluten.

I reiterate it takes me only five minutes daily to prepare our sourdough loaf using our own freshly ground 100% wholemeal "real flour;" at a fraction of the cost if you can get the wheat directly from the farmer. In fact it costs about R5 loaf, a third of a dollar if you have your own mill and bread machine.

If you suffer from inflammatory bowel disease then the dough has to prove for 24 hours; prepare it today for tomorrow's loaf. You may need to change to the one of the heritage varieties like spelt or einkorn.

• Strict and lifelong gluten-free diet
  

Does flour go off?

Does flour go off? And if so why does that happen? I hope that you are beginning to grasp the complexity of wheat and how important it has been in the lives of humans and other animals for all of recorded time.

I find it interesting that our chickens will choose wheat over corn every time; perhaps because of the betaine.

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