Relationship between bread consumption, body weight, and abdominal fat distribution: evidence from epidemiological studies

Abstract

A long-standing belief held by the general public is that bread fattens. This encourages many people to restrict, or even eliminate, bread from their diet. The present review was conducted to assess whether or not eating patterns that include bread are associated with overall obesity or excess abdominal adiposity, whether in the general population or in subjects undergoing obesity management. The literature search included articles published over the past 30 years that focused on dietary patterns that included bread (refined or whole-grain) and their association with ponderal status and abdominal fat distribution. A total of 38 epidemiological studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria (22 cross-sectional, 11 prospective cohort, and five intervention). The results indicate that dietary patterns that include whole-grain bread do not positively influence weight gain and may be beneficial to ponderal status. With respect to dietary patterns that include refined bread, the majority of cross-sectional studies indicate beneficial effects, while most of the well-designed cohort studies demonstrate a possible relationship with excess abdominal fat. Because differences in the study designs make it difficult to form definitive conclusions, more studies are needed that focus specifically on bread consumption, within different dietary patterns, and its influence on ponderal status.

Whole Wheat Pasta and Health

“…18,20,21 Removal of bran and germ in the production of refined grains eliminates these health benefits due to the removal of both these components and their synergistic effects. 30 Current trends in scientific studies of whole grain versus refined grain are replete with results showing consistent health-benefiting properties, including lower body fat percentage in postmenopausal women, and in general, in relation to whole grain bread consumption, 19,31 and a lower BMI Z-score in schoolchildren (the BMI Z-score allows for a BMI comparison between a particular child and a group of children of the same age and sex). 24,25 The socio-demographic group that consumes a greater amount of whole grain comprises the more health-conscious segment, which consists of women, older people, and more educated people.…”

Nutrimetabolomics fingerprinting to identify biomarkers of bread exposure in a free-living population from the PREDIMED study cohort

“…However, these relationships have been mainly observed for whole-grain bread or cereals (Gil et al 2011), whereas the associations for white bread are not clear, and have been associated with increased adiposity and weight gain (Bautista-Castano et al 2012a;Bautista-Castano and Serra-Majem 2012b;Williams 2012).…”

Central obesity is associated with lower intake of whole-grain bread and less frequent breakfast and lunch: results from the HUNT study, an adult all-population survey

“…Also, a recent European study found a positive association between white bread intake and an increase in waist circumference (Romaguera et al 2011). A review of 15 worldwide observational studies, including prospective ones (Koh-Banerjee et al 2004;Liu et al 2003), concluded that a high intake of whole grains (about 3 servings per day) is associated with a lower BMI and less central adiposity (Harland and Garton 2008), a conclusion borne out in central obesity studies of fiber (Du et al 2010), whole grain (McKeown et al 2010), and whole-grain bread (Bautista-Castano and Serra-Majem 2012). (Only a more recent British study of 1599 adults 19-64 years of age did not show an association between waist circumference and wholegrain intake (Thane et al 2009). )…”