Bread and steamed buns are one of the most important parts of the human diet:
Freshly baked bread, fluffy and fragrant;
Freshly steamed steamed buns and buns, soft and delicate and elastic;
……
Behind this is an original pasta making process: hair noodles.
(Source: soogif)
The noodles are yeasts under the appropriate temperature, humidity and other conditions, using glucose and other monosaccharides (under the action of various enzymes, converted from starch, sucrose, etc. in raw materials such as flour) to reproduce, while releasing carbon dioxide gas, at this time the volume of the dough will expand, it will "hair".
(Yeast powder added to the flour, image source: network)
This is the source of the dense bubbles in bread, steamed buns, and pastries made from various noodles.
In addition, some metabolites (such as extracellular polysaccharides) produced during fermentation [1] can also improve the elasticity of the dough, increase the volume of the dough, reduce the hardness of the bread core, and make the bread bun more soft and palatable.
"Dead noodles" and "hair noodles" are the opposite concepts, that is, dough that has not been fermented.
This kind of dough, even after steaming and baking, will not expand in volume, in daily life, noodles, nest heads, shallot oil cakes, dumpling skins and so on are "dead noodles".
Unlike the "fluffy and sweet" texture of noodle food, the flavor of "dead noodles" depends more on the "environment" (such as the soup sauce of ramen, wontons and the filling of dumplings).
Many people may have to ask: which is more nutritious, the "hair noodles" or the "dead noodles"?
Is it true that the old man often said that "hair is good in the face of the body, and death is not good in the face of the body"?
This question can actually be answered from 3 aspects:
Q1: Is the noodles more nutritious and easier to absorb than the dead noodles?
Hair noodles are indeed slightly more nutritious than dead noodles.
Natural yeast-fermented pasta not only increases nutrients (such as containing a richer variety of amino acids), but also improves the digestion and absorption rate of certain nutrients (such as the conversion of starch from macromolecules in the dough into simple sugars).
At the same time, it also eliminates some anti-nutritional factors, such as promoting the decomposition of phytic acid by endogenous phytase [2], and improving the body's absorption and utilization of minerals such as calcium and zinc [3].
Q2: Why do some people feel uncomfortable eating dead noodles?
Because there is no fermented noodles, there are more "gluten proteins" (gluten proteins).
Gluten protein is the product of the combination of wheat alcohol lysin, wheat gluten and water in the process of kneading flour [4], and is one of the important triggers of "celiac disease".
This type of protein, some people eat it will produce abdominal pain, diarrhea.
In the fermentation of dough, in addition to the yeast involved in fermentation, there are often other microorganisms involved. Here we must mention another "hero" in the fermentation process - lactic acid bacteria.
During the fermentation process, lactic acid bacteria can help break down substances that are not conducive to digestion and can even induce disease, such as gluten protein (gluten protein).
Q3: Can diabetics eat more dead noodles?
Whether it is noodles or dead noodles, diabetics cannot eat too much.
"Noodles" also have the advantage of promoting "satiety" earlier through the increased volume of fermentation, preventing us from eating more carbs.
(Source: giphy)
There are always two sides to everything, and the noodles "partially replace" the digestive functions of the human body, which may make us eat the noodles and the blood sugar rise faster.
Of course, this is not to say that it is necessarily "safe" to die in the face of diabetics.
Because of the same volume of hair and dead faces, the amount of dead faces is more. Eating too many staple foods is not a good thing for diabetics.
In general, compared with dead noodles, hair noodles do have some advantages in nutrition, but whether it is dead noodles or hair noodles, they are staple foods and should not be overeaten.
"Nourishing the stomach" is a relatively broad concept, and we make an analysis of the "stomach nourishment" that "enhances and improves the digestive capacity".
Eating "noodles" is actually eating flour that has been "digested" by microorganisms, that is, part of the "digestion" work is "outsourced" to microorganisms, and more kinds of nutrients and better flavors are obtained.
However, the digestive process of the dead side can also be regarded as an exercise to maintain digestive function.
From the perspective of digestion, people who often eat hair noodles seem to often sprint, and eating dead noodles often is similar to long-distance running.
The former is able to be satisfied in a shorter period of time, but the latter is able to maintain "endurance" in longer-term activities, which must not be obtained through the training of sprinting.
Eating hair noodles often can "nourish the stomach" is a wrong understanding, it is recommended that it is best to keep the noodles and dead noodles mixed and eaten, not only to exercise the explosive power of "sprinting", but also to exercise the endurance of "long-distance running".
Finally, I would like to remind you that when eating hair noodles, you should try to choose as few as possible those types that add too much oil, salt and sugar, and do not eat a large amount at one time, so as not to increase the burden of digestion, which is also the mystery of "nourishing the stomach".
Special Author: Xu Tiancheng
PhD student, Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Digestion/Metabolism)
Review expert: Liu Pingping
Registered Dietitian
bibliography
[1] LUCDV,MARCV. Biodiversity and identification of sourdough lactic acid bacteria [J]. Food Microbiology,2007,24（2）:120-127.
[2] VUYSTL D,NEYSENS P.The sourdough microflora:biodiversity and metabolic interactions[J]. Trends in Food Science and Technology,2005,16(1/3):43-56.
[3] CORSETTI A,SETTANNI L.Lactobacili in sourdough fermentation[J]. Food research international,2007.40（5）:539-558
[4] CODA R,CAGNOR D,RIZZELLOC G,et al. Utilization of african grains for sourdough bread making[J]. Journal of Food Science,2011,76（6）:329-335
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