Breads of Life

          Bread, in one form or another, has been with us since the dawn of agriculture. For today’s IC patient though, a loaf of bread can either be a tasty addition to a bladder-safe diet, or it can be a pain-literally. Many cultures throughout history have ground local grains into flour and baked it.

          As bread baking became big business, recipe decisions were directed increasingly by financial considerations and the necessities of large scale mechanical production. Bleaches made the flour whiter. Chemical preservatives were developed and added to bread to increase its shelf life. Dough conditioners were added to make the dough easily workable on machinery. Humectants were added to make the bread hold onto more water and seem more substantial. Yeast nutrients were added to puff up a small loaf with so much air that it looked larger on the market shelf. The additive-laden bread has little real ingredients and no taste or texture? Not a problem-there are additives to fix that too.

         All these modern additions to bread are one reason commercially baked bread may be a problem for some of today’s IC patients. Often the bodies are tolerant of the major ingredients, buy the bladders do not take kindly to the chemicals added for convenience of the manufacturers.