Off Topic - Bread: What do you really "knead"?

I’ve been going through a bit of a bread crisis lately. Most people who pay lots of attention to ingredients already make the changes in their food. Not entirely with me though. I think it’s something that I’ve taken for granted though. Probably since I’m a vegetaran and cook most of my own food (and for my family) we buy organic produce where possible (and affordable) and we don’t buy much in the way of prepared foods. But I hadn’t been paying much attention to bread.

Until just these last couple of weeks. One ingredient in particular has been glaring at me and found in just about every bread product out there. Calcium propionate. Now, with a word like “propionate” in its name, that just doesn’t sound natural. It doesn’t sound right. Turns out I was right. It’s not natural. It is also a registered pesticide. And with someone who has come down hard on things like “coconut-derived surfactants” and “food-grade preservative” in personal care products, why would I be okay with a pesticide in my bread?

For everyone’s pleasure (maybe “reference” would be a better term?) I thought I’d put together a few stats on calcium propionate (aka, calcium propanoate):

• Chemical formula: C6H10CaO4

• In its pure form, commonly a fine white powder

• Used as a preservative in foods because it prevents microbes from producing the energy they need to flourish, thereby inhibiting the growth of mould.

• Like many toxins, any side effects [are likely to] stem from chronic dosages; i.e., the small doses found in a single serving of bread (like a sandwich) are highly unlikely to cause any reaction; however, long term exposure (i.e., ingesting) can yield results such as:
• physical responses, such as headaches, stomach aches, digestive difficulties, skin rashes, & compromised immune systems, and/or

• behavioural responses, such as irritability, depression, fatigue, impairment of memory & concentration, restlessness, insomnia, night terrors, and more.

• The U.S. EPA rates calcium propionate as slightly toxic (not especially alarming as even many good and essential substances like vitamin C are also rated as such); however, its parent chemical, propionic acid (propionic acid + ionic calcium = calcium propionate) is highly toxic.

Of course my favourite among that list (and I bet yours too!) is the potential behavioural side effects. Few studies have been done on the matter - in fact I’ve only found actual reference to one – and that one study had a small sampling, of only 27 participants. That said, of the 27 children tested, 14 - a relative high proportion experienced a number of those side effects. Unfortunately, the results had to be considered inconclusive due to 4 subjects who responded similarly with the placebo. Nevertheless, in my opinion those numbers should at least be compelling enough to warrant further, larger scale study. I understand though that larger scale study requires significantly more money and I’m guessing the people & institutions with that kind of dough (pun intended) have better things to spend it on. On top of that, I can’t deny that there is a lot more evidence supporting the safety of the ingredient than its toxicity.

So for those of us who would rather be safe than sorry, what do we do? Well, the easiest answer is to make your own bread and make sure you sanitize your countertops with vinegar. Supporting your local baker is one suggestion too. But take that one with some caution: not all bakeries list their ingredients (yes they SHOULD, but there are loopholes for small scale enterprises, so they might not HAVE TO) and they may very well still use calcium propionate (or sodium propionate which isn’t much different and serves the same purpose). The flip side of that is that they might not be using calcium propionate but their sanitary conditions be not be great and you’ll end up with bread that goes mouldy really fast. I think this is what happened to me. If you have a deep freezer I would suggest the first but make an event out of it! Invite some friends over, have some wine (there are some toxins that even I can’t bring myself to cut out) and make a couple dozen loaves of bread. It would be epic. And it should be fun.

I confess though. It’s easier to give advice than take it. Me, I make a loaf when I can, sometimes avoid bread since I can’t find a loaf I’m happy with, and sometime suck it up and one pesticide-laden bread. In my opinion though. Be more safe than sorry. Especially if you have children, avoid breads with calcium propionate. This ingredient is bioaccumulative and poses some very interesting (and common) risks of behavioural side effects. One brand I should mention that does not use it is the Ezekial 4:9 kind. Not surprisingly it’s always found frozen and it’s made from sprouted grains – so it’s even healthier than most other breads! It is a bit pricy though at usually more than $5 or $6 per loaf. Comparatively speaking, making your own bread usually costs less than $1 per loaf (I’ve never really worked it out precisely but I’ve heard ranges from $0.10 to $1, averaging in the $0.30 ballpark). I stand by my suggestion of making your own bread though. It gives you a wonderful feeling of self worth when you’ve made it, smells wonderful, and you know that you only put healthy ingredients in there. And if you didn’t at least you know nothing else was “snuck in”.

Dirty Laundry - Part 2: The Conundrum of Borax

I promise I’ll stop talking about laundry soon. But before I do there was a topic I wanted to share with you regarding one of the ingredients in one of our products. We almost didn’t allow it. I am referring to the borax in the Earth Elementals Laundry Soap. Borax is very effective at killing bacteria. So it does a great job at making your clothes not smell. Unfortunately, it’s also good at killing other things: like insects, plants, and if you eat enough of it then yes, people too.

But let’s back that up a moment and straighten out some facts. Borax, aka sodium borate (Na2BO3) is closely related to common table salt (NaCl). They are both naturally occurring minerals that are commonly found together (albeit the salt in much higher proportions), having formed as precipitate minerals from dried ancient seas. That said, I still would not advise sprinkling some borax on your potatoes. And just as salt is an integral factor in the stability of our ecosystems, so is boron in borates. We all need a little bit but too much could kill us. Don’t worry about getting enough though; just like salt we generally get enough through natural sources.

Of course we’re not talking about trying to maintain the balance in our ecosystems here. Make no mistake, borax is poisonous. But why is it poisonous? What happens? I’ve heard a variety of numbers and I honestly don’t know which to trust: some say as little as 15-20 g can kill an adult human (or as little as 5 g to kill a child or small pet) and yet the WHO lists borax as “Unlikely to be acutely toxic”, which based on their classification indicates that a rat can consume up to 2 g or more of borax per kg of its body weight (although rats can tolerate slightly higher levels than humans that index of toxicity is the norm). That number roughly translates to saying that a 70 kg (155 lb) adult can consume about 150 g of borax – given the proportions present that’s up to 1/3 of a bag of Earth Elementals Laundry Soap. I wouldn’t recommend testing that though. Even still, what I have taken away is that borax is more toxic with chronic exposure than it is acutely. That means it’s easier to kill someone using a small amount of borax repeatedly for a long time allowing it to build up in the body slowly than it would be to give them a big heaping serving of borax and just expect them to die from it. Also, males appear to be more sensitive to it than females – specifically the testicles. Apparently chronic borax exposure is also effective at making a man infertile. This however, is not my recommended method of birth control. All that in mind, chronic borax exposure is still not as easy as that. Under many “normal” conditions, borax can be filtered by the kidneys (and excreted in urine) and not accumulate in the body. The most damaging conditions generally require absorption through damaged / burnt / infected skin. I assume the same could be said for internal scar tissue and ulcers.

This however, is why we boycotted borax in skin care products. See, it is also an effective emulsifier (allowing oils and water to mix) as well as preservative. So you can understand our stance on not allowing creams and balms that contain borax. But coming back to those cleaners: Earth Elementals recommends that their laundry soap is also a great all-purpose cleaner when mixed with water (and it is – we’ve tried). My advice: don’t worry about it. The amount of borax present in a solution of cleaner based on that product is relatively small. And unless you have particularly damaged skin and are using the product 6 or 7 times a day every single day (NOTE: these numbers are somewhat arbitrary) you’ll be fine. And even if you are, or you just want to be extra careful, wear gloves.

Now if this has been filled with, or even speckled with interesting new facts on borax, please don’t go killing people. Or even rats for that matter.