Sourdough, Gluten and Weston Price

In the 1920s and 30s, a dentist and researcher named Dr. Weston A. Price traveled the world, visiting traditionally-living populations. He observed dietary habits and physical and dental health, comparing communities eating exclusively traditional foods with those exposed to modern, Western foods like white flour, sugar, and refined vegetable oils.

In case after case, he found the communities that ate exclusively traditional foods were in excellent health, with virtually no tooth decay or other signs of physical degeneration, while those eating modern foods had significant dental problems and other signs of poor nutrition. He compared the traditional diets that promoted such optimal health, and noticed recurring elements. Communities went out of their way to obtain seafood, including fish eggs and shellfish. Societies valued animal foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins (especially A, D, and K2 MK-4), such as organ meats and bone marrow, in some cases reserving surpluses of these foods for childbearing couples and in other cases making sure certain organs were divided up among every member of a community.

Among the communities Price studied, there was only one that consumed gluten grains, an isolated village of Swiss living high in the Alps. They ate sourdough fermented rye bread, topped with vast amounts of grass-fed butter. Price, and many whose nutritional philosophies he has influenced over the years (like Sally Fallon) have surmised that sourdough fermentation is critical for healthy consumption of gluten grains.

You probably know that people living with celiac disease are sensitive to gluten, but there is some indication that a significant number of us have some level of gluten sensitivity as well. One study showed that four out of five people had an immune system response to gliadin (a protein involved in the formation of gluten), the same kind of response the body has when it’s invaded by a pathogen. Could sourdough fermentation break down gluten found in grains?

A paper I recently found adds weight to the theory that it can, at least to some extent. This study mimicked contamination of gluten-free bread dough with small amounts of gluten, as might happen in a bakery that produces both gluten-free and typical bread. One batch of dough was sourdough fermented, while the other was given a typical yeast-rising treatment of non-sourdough bread. The researchers compared the gluten levels, and also the taste and quality, of the final baked breads.

The results were striking. The sourdough fermented breads lost about ninety percent of the added gluten, placing the contaminant level low enough to be safe even for those with celiac disease (below 20 ppm). The gluten levels in the yeast-risen bread remained virtually unchanged. The sourdough version was, subjectively of course, found to have better consistency and flavor. Again, to clarify, this was gluten-free bread contaminated with small amounts of gluten, not bread originally made from gluten grains.

Those with celiac disease and other extreme gluten sensitivity should be especially aware of this result. If you’re purchasing gluten-free bread, go for the sourdough, and request bakeries start making it if they make a non-sourdough gluten-free bread. Sourdough fermentation not only breaks down gluten, it also degrades antinutrients that block absorption of nutrients, meaning it’s a good idea for the non-gluten-sensitive as well.

The cultures Weston Price studied were, as usual, on to something. Grains, even non-gluten grains should be properly treated: soaked and fermented when possible. The more I read, the more I learn about cultures’ creative ways to do this. Here’s some information on grain fermentation practices in Asia; who knew those khanom jeen soft rice noodles I loved in Thailand were fermented?!

Even if you eat gluten-containing bread, sourdough is a better choice for all the reasons I’ve mentioned here. One thing to be aware of, though: a lot of commercially-produced, packaged bread labeled “sourdough” isn’t really slow-fermented sourdough. It often has sour flavoring agents added in. Get sourdough bread from a baker who uses a proper sourdough starter (that stuff in the picture above) and lets the dough ferment.

I’d love to see a study on the extent to which sourdough fermentation breaks down gluten in bread made from gluten grains, but to my knowledge one hasn’t been done. We know there is some breakdown, and reduction of antinutrients, but I don’t think we know the extent.

Sourdough and Gluten II (next post on this subject)