History of Enriched Flour

Why choose fresh milled flour?

I first learned about the benefits from Sue Becker. If you want to learn more I highly recommend you listen to her videos or podcast. She’s a wealth of knowledge!

History of Enriched Flour

The biggest reason our family switched to using fresh milled flour was when we learned the truth about enriched flour. It has the healthiest part of the wheat stripped away to prevent it from going rancid on the shelves, then a few synthetic vitamins added back in.

To understand why they started doing that in the first place, we need a brief history of flour.

In the 1800s people were using flower mills powered by wind or water. They had to use the flour quickly because flour goes rancid quickly once it’s milled.

In the 1870’s roller milling was invented that allowed the separation of the wheat kernel. It separated out the parts that go rancid quickly and it left the part that could be stored for a long time. This lead to the mass production of white flour.

At the time, they didn’t know it was removing the most nutrient dense parts of the wheat (the bran and the germ) leaving only the carbohydrates (the endosperm).

Then diseases such as beriberi, pellagra, and anemia became prevalent and was traced back to nutrient deficiencies when the nutrients were removed from the flour. They eventually figured out it was due to stripping the nutrients from the flour.

In 1936 the American Medical Association recommended adding vitamins and minerals back in to address the problem. In 1941 the FDA made it a requirement to add the synthetic vitamins thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and iron. In 1998 they also added Folic Acid to prevent birth defects.