Is It the Whole Wheat Flour or Refined Flour Best for Chapati?

Posted by Ankush Trivedi on July 9th, 2018

In this era, people are very concerned about their weight and health. So, many Indian households are incorporating chapati in their meals often by replacing rice. Again, either they are shifting to mixed or complete chapati meals. However, when it comes to refined or whole wheat flour, most end up being confused as in which one to select for their daily consumption. Well, here’s your answer.   

Which one to choose?

So many varieties of wheat flour have come up now. The primary two are whole wheat flour and refined flour. In case of the latter, the wheat bran and the germ are removed, and just the endosperm is present; hence the name ‘refined white flour’. However, its nutritional quality also becomes poor after refining.

The refined flour is often used for making bakery products like cakes, pastries, patties, and others. To enhance the vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre content, it is often modified by adding up some more nutrients.

Thus, due to its nutritional quality, whole wheat flour is the best atta flour for chapati.

The key parameters:

Some specific aspects are checked before choosing a brand for wheat flour. A glance at them:

1. Protein content: For good quality wheat flour, it should be 10 to 15 per cent.
2. Calorific value
3. Dietary fibre
4. Crude fibre shouldn’t be more than 2.5%.
5. Presence of moisture
6. Lead content, if any.
7. Aflatoxins and pesticide residues.
8. Microbial contamination, whether present or not!

The hype about gluten!

A gluten-free diet is becoming a rage amongst the young generation. But, is gluten terrible for our health? Well, it is a protein found in wheat, barley, and others which gives the dough shape. Gluten can be harmful to the human body only in some cases when the person has celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Still, more people are trying to adopt gluten-free flour for consumption. It does have a few benefits like good bowel movement, improvement in gastrointestinal health, maintaining the gut microbiome, and others.

Planning to opt for whole wheat flour?

So, did the doctor advise you to have whole wheat flour instead of a refined one? Wondering why? Let’s dig deeper.

Refined flour has been used ever since the invention of the bakery. The gluten content makes it slimy, easy to chew and gulp down fast, resulting in its overconsumption.

Excessively refined flour going in your stomach can have a few negative impacts on the body.

• Spike in blood sugar levels which might be a cause of diabetes.
• Inflammation via glycation due to too much glucose content in blood.
• Slowing down of metabolic rate, finally leading to obesity.
• Gastrointestinal disorders.
• Food allergy or intolerance.
• Alkali-acid imbalance.

The future predictions!

Scientists and medical practitioners have come to the opinion that whole wheat flour is much more nutritious and healthy for the body.

Although after refining, a lot of additional components are added to the flour to enhance its quality. Even after enrichment, it does not have equivalent fibre or nutritional content like the whole wheat flour!

Well, now you know which is the best atta flour for chapati!