By Amy Lupton

Growing up in my household, and as a child of the late 70’s and 80’s… we had white bread. White bread was wondrous! It would last for a WHILE in the pantry or bread box, even though it was eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Back then, all the prepared and packaged foods were the craze. Hamburger Helper with your Wonder Bread anyone?

I remember we would rarely eat anything that had been fermented or soured, unless we were eating sauerkraut along side our sausage at Octoberfest festivals. But sourdough wasn’t really a thing in the rural parts of Texas.

I really didn’t know what sourdough was until I went into college and my college bestie was into all the healthy things. We would eat store-bought sourdough with margarine, or even cream cheese. I didn’t know there was any health benefit, just that it was kinda cool, and found in the health food stores.

So What is Sourdough?

Sourdough bread is slow-fermented bread that requires no commercial yeast in order to rise. Instead, it uses a sourdough starter (which is a mix of fermented flour, water, wild microorganisms and good probiotics) to rise. It does contain other ingredients such as fresh flour, water and salt.

As someone that’s been a practitioner in the nutritional therapy community for a while now, I have heard mixed comments on the health of sourdough, mostly in the carbohydrates, gluten, and preservative realm.

Many sourdough skeptics advocate that grains in today’s world are toxic. I can agree with this for the most part due to the milling, stripping, bleaching and chemical use in grains.

On the other hand, I do recognize the benefits of the traditional ways of baking and cooking (using organic flour from countries that don’t use gmo’s), and find that most people can enjoy traditionally made grains in moderation, even with such things as a gluten sensitivity.

Note: You must be your own health advocate and proceed with caution AND use your own noggin if you have a potential damaging allergy to any of the ingredients in this bread. Although we have personally experienced the ability to eat fermented breads and have a gluten sensitivity ourselves (we have also led several people through to eating properly prepared and chemical-free grains who do as well)…you know you and must make the choice to slowly introduce this into your diet if you choose.

Why Am I Saying Homemade Sourdough??

Well, many reasons. One, it’s way better. Two, it’s way better.

But really…. Many sourdough breads are not really soured, just flavored sour. And in order to keep it fresh-ish in the store, there have to be some preservatives to keep it from molding. Also, many sourdoughs found commercially are only risen and fermented for a few hours, while many health benefits come from at least 8 hours, but even more so at 24-48 hours. I think the best way is to make it yourself, or check with your local organic baker and see how they do it.

But let’s get back to the dough….

Before it was even known why fermenting and soaking grains was beneficial to the human body, it was traditionally how our ancestors consumed grains.

The naturally occurring acids and long fermentation make sourdough bread more digestible and easier for the body to absorb and is said to have a better effect on blood sugar and insulin levels than traditional commercial yeasts or regular bread. There are many studies that have been done confirming this, find them in the references below. :)

As someone who is a geek on nutrition, I wanted to look into 5 different categories of sourdough, gluten, digestibility of sourdough (especially in people with gut issues) the bacterial/probiotic content in sourdough bread, as well as the differences in store-bought sourdough vs homemade sourdough bread, the carbohydrates in sourdough, and finally the minerals. I had some questions, I researched them, and you will find my conclusions below with studies and references attached.

Here are my 5 reasons to give sourdough a try!

1. Gluten and Sourdough

Sourdough digests the gluten-containing peptides, glucans, and proteins possibly making it easily digestible for people with gluten sensitivities and celiacs. (1, 2) This longer prep time for sourdough bread means the gluten is broken down into amino acids by the beneficial bacteria before you consume it.

Note: (again) If you have a severe allergy, I would put the hault on this or only do under supervision of a medical professional.

With that being said….We did some of our own small batch testing with several participants and clients (clearing it with docs and practitioners first). Our tests found that when coupled with strictly-tested non-gmo flour (contact us for some trusted brands), there was not one participant who couldn’t handle the sourdough bread in small amounts.

This was an amazing revelation to us (and the participants!) and could turn the tables for some people that have a gluten sensitivity, and even some people with celiac. I also found across the internet several testimonies of people letting the dough rise or ferment longer (even for 48 or 72 hours) and were able to handle it better after a long ferment. (3)

2. Digestibility and Sourdough

Sourdough is easier to digest.

Since sourdough is a fermented food, the bacteria breaks down the compounds that are harder to digest, such as starches. This makes it easier on your digestion, and more compatible for people with digestive issues. This also means that it digests in your system similar to a cooked vegetable verses a simple starch. This makes is easier to combine with other foods as well (5,6).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31387262/

3. Probiotics and Sourdough

The consumption of sourdough bread may promote the healthy microbiota metabolism at colon level, especially in the form of prebiotics.

Sourdough contains healthy bacteria and probiotics. Some of these are wild from your particular environment, as well as some that form from the starter and the natural yeasts.

Each sourdough starter is unique, and morphs and changes according to where it is. At different times of year, different populations of bacteria will populate it, as well as different bacteria will grow according to longer fermentation times.

According to the study, Sourdough Microbiome Comparison and Benefits (11), “The sourdough starter is an excellent habitat where natural and wild yeast plus beneficial bacteria grow by ingesting only water and flour. As each sourdough starter is unique, with different activities, populations and interactions of yeast and bacteria due to different ingredients, environment, fermentation time and its carbohydrate fermentation pattern, there is no exact elucidation on the complete make-up of the sourdough microbiome. Some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains that are part of the sourdough starter are considered as probiotics which have great potential for improving gastrointestinal health.”

And then a quote from a well known website called the Sourdough School (9) stated,

“Sourdough can help increase your dietary fibre intake by 10-15% and the ratio of soluble to insoluble fibre can be manipulated depending on how long you ferment your dough. Recent advances in the area of gut health has shown that phenolic compounds { LINK } in addition to fibre has been shown to improve gut microbial diversity which is pivotal in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome.”

This particular strains of bacteria can be beneficial for constipation, regularity, irritable bowel, as well as yeast overgrowth in the gut. This is also good news for people with increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut). (8, 10)

4. Minerals, Amino Acids and Sourdough

Several studies have shown that sourdough can increase your mineral absorption of certain key nutrients, such as magnesium.

The study showed (12) that the slight drop of the pH of sourdough is sufficient to reduce significantly the phytate content of a gluten flour. Thus in turn the magnesium bioaccessibility is increased.

Also, amino acids are formed after bacteria digests certain components of the flour, making the dough have some amino acid profiles that would not be present in conventional bread without fortification.

5. Carbs/Blood Sugar and Sourdough

Many studies have noted the direct correlation to the lower amount of carbohydrates and sugar in sourdough bread. This of course makes sense according to fermentation results, and how the bacteria digest the sugars in flour as food.

While a regular slice of bread contains around 15-20 grams of carbohydrates, sourdough comes in around half of that at 8-10 grams per slice. This is great for people who need to watch carbs, or can only have a lower amount due to diabetes, auto-immune conditions etc. (15,16). Sourdough also contains higher natural fiber in comparison to conventional bread (9), so it will also bring down the net carbs of each slice, having a more positive effect on blood sugar.

Happy Baking!

Follow along

And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram HERE as we chat with our friend Genevieve Curtis (we call her the Sourdough Goddess!) on how to make sourdough, the health benefits and how to keep your starter happy and healthy. :)
See ya next time! Xo Amy

References and Studies to do some further reading on sourdough:

1). A Case Study of the Response of Immunogenic Gluten Peptides to Sourdough Proteolysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34206002/

2).Fructan, Rather Than Gluten, Induces Symptoms in Patients With Self-Reported Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29102613/

3). Why Some Gluten-Sensitive People Can Still Eat Sourdough Bread https://www.bonappetit.com/story/gluten-sensitive-sourdough

4.) Fermented Foods: Definitions and Characteristics, Impact on the Gut Microbiota and Effects on Gastrointestinal Health and Disease https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31387262/

5.) Sourdough Fermented Breads are More Digestible than Those Started with Baker's Yeast Alone: An In Vivo Challenge Dissecting Distinct Gastrointestinal Responses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31817104/

6.) Sourdough and cereal fermentation in a nutritional perspective https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19747602/

7.) Bread Affects Clinical Parameters and Induces Gut Microbiome-Associated Personal Glycemic Responses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28591632/

8.) Feeding with Sustainably Sourdough Bread Has the Potential to Promote the Healthy Microbiota Metabolism at the Colon Level https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34851178/

9.) The Sourdough School https://www.sourdough.co.uk/sourdough-particularly-help-support-microbiome/

10.) Fecal Metaproteomic Analysis Reveals Unique Changes of the Gut Microbiome Functions After Consumption of Sourdough Carasau Bread https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31417524/

11.) Sourdough Microbiome Comparison and Benefits https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34201420/

12.) Increasing fermentation increases mineral absorption by reducing phytate acid

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15631515/

13.) Impact of minerals in sourdough bread, particularly magnesium

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15726909/

14.) Enzymatic and bacterial conversions during sourdough fermentation

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24230468/

15.) How Sourdough changed the way I think about carbs https://cleanplates.com/nutrition/my-clean-plate/sourdough-bread-health-benefits/

16.) The Acute Impact of Ingestion of Sourdough and Whole-Grain Breads on Blood Glucose, Insulin, and Incretins in Overweight and Obese Men https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317179/

Other references that are interesting :)

How did sourdough become a thing? https://www.youkneadsourdough.com.au/blogs/sourdough-stories/the-history-of-sourdough-the-rise-of-sourdough-bread
Why Some Gluten-Sensitive People Can Still Eat Sourdough Bread https://www.bonappetit.com/story/gluten-sensitive-sourdough
Impact of sourdough on bread texture - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17008161/
Moderate decrease of pH by sourdough fermentation is sufficient to reduce phytate content of whole wheat flour through endogenous phytase activity https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15631515/

5 Reasons A Nutritionist Says to Give Homemade Sourdough a Try