25/08/2026
‼️ Organic versus standard wheat flour? Wholewheat versus white?
In 2009, the government mandated that all wheat flour is to have synthetic folic acid & thiamine added to it.
Organic flour is exempt from this.
Wholegrain/wholewheat organic flours retain natural occurring folate in the "germ" (the sprouting part of the grain).
To make white flour, they extract the bran & germ (therefore the natural occurring folate is extracted too). The general population do prefer white, fluffy bread and because of this, they are missing out on the natural occurring folate from the germ part of the grain. This is some of the reason the government mandated that folic acid is to be added to all non - organic wheat flours. They had to find a way to get majority of people to consume more folate in their diet, and majority of people eat white bread. So as a result, all non- organic wheat flours contain synthetic versions of it.
The highest amount of natural folate in grains, are in wholegrain/ wholewheat & stoneground flours that still contain all the bran and germ, so it makes sense that it’s usually recommended to eat wholewheat/ wholegrain bread instead of white.
So ultimately, the question for us as consumers is this. Would we prefer natural folate in organic wholegrain/wholewheat bread versus synthetic folic acid in normal non - organic bread?
On another note, wholemeal bread is not to be confused with wholegrain/ wholewheat and is completely different. Wholemeal bread is where they make white flour (extracting the germ & bran), then they add some back in to make it "wholemeal" flour. They do this because it gives a fluffier, soft bread similar to white. Whereas wholegrain/ wholewheat maintains the germ & bran (and natural folate). Always choose wholewheat/ wholegrain over wholemeal 🤍
For reference, my organic wholewheat sourdough loaves contain wholewheat flour, NOT wholemeal.
Organic white - NO synthetic folic acid / thiamine.
Organic wholewheat - natural folate. No synthetic folic acid/ thiamine
Standard white, wholemeal and any other non- organic wheat flour contains synthetic folic acid & thiamine.
