Is it harmful to your body to eat steamed bread and bread containing yeast frequently? The truth can no longer be hidden...

Expert in this article: Wang Silu, National Senior Food Inspector, Internal Auditor of HACCP Food System of the People’s Republic of China

This article was reviewed by Liu Shaowei, Deputy Director and Professor of Food and Drug Regulatory Research Center, East China University of Science and Technology

Three meals a day

Staple food is essential

Plays a very important role

Steamed buns, steamed rolls, dumplings, rice

…

Can instantly eliminate hunger

usually

Many people like to do it themselves

Make some food like steamed buns, flower rolls or bread

This will use "yeast powder"

To make the pasta softer

But recently

Many people say

Eat foods made with yeast

Harmful to the body

So

Is this really the case?

Let’s watch together

…

What is yeast?

Yeast is a unicellular facultative anaerobic eukaryotic microorganism and a biological leavening agent.

Yeast will produce yeast during use. Yeast will multiply in large quantities and decompose starch under suitable temperature and humidity, absorbing sugar in the dough as nutrients, thereby producing more carbon dioxide for dough leavening.

Compared with baking powder, yeast is more nutritious and healthier, but it takes a long time to make dough with yeast alone (it depends on the fermentation temperature, generally more than 2 hours).

What role does yeast play in dough?

1. Yeast in the dough can promote the formation of protein chains.

2. During the fermentation process, yeast will absorb the sugar in the dough, produce carbon dioxide and alcohol, and play a "fermentation" role.

3. Some oxygen molecules will be incorporated into the dough during the mixing process. The dough after mixing has greater extensibility and less resistance. After yeast fermentation, the dough will undergo oxidation, causing the gluten chains to combine with each other, thereby increasing gluten strength.

4. Yeast produces many volatile organic substances during the fermentation process, which helps to form the unique baking smell of foods such as bread.

Is it harmful to your body to eat foods containing yeast frequently?

There are two main reasons why eating yeast regularly is harmful to the body. Let’s analyze them one by one…

1. Will eating foods containing yeast cause stomach problems?

Some people say "Don't eat steamed buns or bread right after they are steamed (baked), otherwise you will get stomach problems." The main reason is the carbon dioxide produced by yeast fermentation.

However, as a biological leavening agent, yeast does produce carbon dioxide during the fermentation process of steamed buns and bread, but the fermentation and gas production ability of yeast will be affected by many factors such as temperature, dough composition, pH value, etc.

Take temperature as an example. If the temperature exceeds 60℃, yeast cannot survive, let alone ferment and produce gas. In the process of steaming buns and baking bread, the heating temperature is significantly higher than this temperature.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about the fact that freshly steamed (baked) buns (bread) are still producing a lot of carbon dioxide. In other words, even if it contains a small amount of carbon dioxide, it will not cause harm to the body.

2. Will yeast produce carcinogens during the fermentation process?

There is a popular saying that "due to the presence of yeast, freshly steamed buns and freshly baked bread contain carcinogens and should never be eaten."

Some people say that yeast is related to "the carcinogenicity of bread". Aside from the carcinogen acrylamide produced by the Maillard reaction, yeast itself is a microorganism that plays a role in the leavening stage of bread making. The temperature for baking bread is generally around 200ºC, and the yeast would have died before reaching this temperature. Therefore, the so-called carcinogenicity has nothing to do with it.

If, according to popular belief, "steamed buns and other pasta contain carcinogens when they are hot", then carcinogens should also be present after they are cooled. Would they disappear? Therefore, such a statement is irrational in itself. We must look at it scientifically and not believe it.

Pay attention to these when using yeast

1. When purchasing yeast, choose products produced by regular brands and well-known manufacturers, as they have better quality assurance and higher safety.

2. When purchasing common ingredients such as yeast, it is recommended to buy small packages to avoid affecting their effectiveness due to large quantities and long storage times.

3. From a health perspective, when making steamed bread, the amount of yeast used and the time for kneading the dough should be appropriately reduced, and the time for the dough to rise should be appropriately increased to reduce the porous structure of steamed bread and bread and make the flour products more compact. This practice can help lower the GI value of food (reduce the effect of starch and enzymes and delay starch digestion), and will not cause a large fluctuation in blood sugar after consumption, allowing blood sugar to rise more slowly (people with high blood sugar and diabetes should pay more attention).

4. When storing powdered ingredients such as yeast and baking soda, be sure to avoid water, light, and high temperature. Seal them tightly and use them up within the shelf life.

In summary

Yeast is a safe

Rich in various nutrients

Rumored

Eating foods containing yeast frequently can cause harm to the body

The statement

We must look at it scientifically

Don't trust easily

Normally everyone

Be sure to recognize rumors

Do not spread rumors, do not believe rumors, and do not create rumors

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